Nancy Mace

Early life, education, and career

Mace was born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Army Brigadier General Emory Mace and school teacher Anne Mace, Ph.D. In 1999, while her father was serving as commandant of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Mace became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets day military portion of the historic military college, receiving a degree in Business Administration with magna cum laude honors. While she was the first woman cadet to receive a Citadel diploma, women were enrolled and had received diplomas from the evening and day civilian programs at the school since the 1970s. Nancy also graduated from the University of Georgia where she earned a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Georgia’s School of Journalism, focusing on public relations.

In 2008, Mace started a small consulting business: The Mace Group. The Mace Group provides public relations, marketing and web services to clients in a variety of industries. Some recent political clients have included Senator Tim Scott, Congressman Mick Mulvaney and South Carolina State Senator Tom Davis.

She is Vice Chair of The Citadel School of Business Advisory Board, on the National Board of Directors for the Medal of Honor Bowl, a board member of The Citadel Regimental Band and Pipes Association; past board member of Childspring International; past president of the Greater Atlanta Citadel Alumni Club; a past district director for The Citadel Alumni Association; past panelist on the 12th Annual Conference of Women in Higher Education; and participant in the Corbin Council conference on Assimilation of Women at Military Colleges. In August 2014, Mace participated in the Cold Water Challenge in order to raise awareness of the charity Autism Speaks.

She resides in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband and two children.

Author

Mace is the author of In the Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel. She chronicles her upbringing as the daughter of a Citadel graduate and retired Army General, as well as her experience as a female cadet attending the historically all-male military college.

2014 United States Senate Campaign

On August 3, 2013, Mace announced that she would seek the GOP nomination for the United States Senate in South Carolina for the 2014 election. Mace won 6.2 percent of the vote with 19,560 votes cast in her name in the Republican Primary.

2017 State House Campaign

On September 18th, 2017, Mace announced and filed as a Republican to run in a special election for the South Carolina State House District 99 seat being vacated by Jimmy Merrill, who resigned earlier that month following an indictment and plea deal for several ethics violations. She faces a number of opponents in the Republican primary election scheduled for November 14th, 2017.