Trump re-ups endorsement of SC Rep. Nancy Mace after calling her ‘absolutely terrible candidate’ 

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace still appears to be in the good graces of former President Donald Trump, who re-upped his endorsement of the GOP pol Monday after previously blasting her as an “absolutely terrible candidate.” 

“It is my great honor to Endorse a Strong Conservative Voice for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Nancy Mace worked hard campaigning across South Carolina in support of our Record-Breaking WIN,” the 77-year-old former president said. “In Congress, she is fighting to Secure the Border, Strengthen our Military, Support our Veterans, Uphold the Rule of Law, Stop Political Weaponization, and Protect and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.

“Congresswoman Nancy Mace has my Complete and Total Endorsement! South Carolina, Get out to Vote TOMORROW!” 

Trump’s reminder to South Carolina voters that he’s backing the 46-year-old Mace in Tuesday’s statewide primary comes after she failed to win his endorsement in the 2022 midterm elections over what the former president viewed as disloyalty after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building. 

“Everything that he’s worked for … his entire legacy, was wiped out yesterday,” Mace said in an interview with CNN a day after Trump supporters attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. “And we’ve got to start over.

“We need to hold the president accountable,” she said later that month, condemning Trump during a House floor speech. 

Trump opted against endorsing Mace in her 2022 race, deriding her as an “absolutely terrible candidate” and “disloyal” to the Republican Party. 

The next year, the South Carolina congresswoman reportedly took a shot at the former president’s supporters behind closed doors. 

Mace, one of eight GOP lawmakers who voted to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October, wore a white T-shirt to the Capitol emblazoned with a red “A” days after the vote. 

She reportedly complained to her staff that people who didn’t understand her distinctive shirt was a reference to “The Scarlet Letter” were probably “Trump voters,” according to Slate. 

Then Mace endorsed Trump in January 2024, and the 45th president returned the favor in March. 

“I don’t see eye to eye perfectly with any candidate,” she wrote on X in January, explaining her endorsement of the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee. “And until now I’ve stayed out of it. But the time has come to unite behind our nominee.”

An Emerson College/The Hill survey last month found Mace leading her main GOP primary rival – former South Carolina state official Catherine Templeton – by a substantial margin. 

Still, Mace failed to crack 50% support in the survey, and if she cannot muster at least half the vote against Templeton and a lesser challenger Tuesday, the congresswoman will head to a June 25 runoff between the top two primary-vote-getting candidates. 0

“Congresswoman Mace is the endorsed candidate, having not only reconciled with President Trump but now sharing an unbreakable bond,” Gabrielle Lipsky, a rep for the South Carolina Republican, told The Post on Monday.

“She stands unwaveringly with President Trump and his supporters, fully committed to making South Carolina and America great again.”

Of the Slate piece, Lipsky said, “Any attempts to undermine Mace’s support for President Trump or the conservative base are deceitful and desperate.”