Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is set to depart from Washington at the year’s end, but some of her former aides believe she should consider stepping away from politics altogether.

In conversations with New York Magazine, several ex-staffers from Mace’s team recounted challenging experiences while working under the South Carolina representative. Although Mace has often highlighted her ascent from a Waffle House waitress to the first female graduate of the Citadel and ultimately a U.S. Representative as a classic American Dream narrative, her former employees shared a very different perspective.

Their accounts suggest that working for her was anything but a dream.

“When I was employed by her, our poor scheduler received calls at 2 a.m. to deliver bottles of tequila,” one former staff member revealed to NY Magazine.

It wasn’t just alcohol that Mace was reportedly involved with; several staffers noted her cannabis consumption, which some described as “excessive.”

Additionally, another former aide alleged that Mace instructed them to scour Reddit for forums ranking the “hottest women in Congress,” encouraging them to enhance her position through comments and “upvotes.”

Last year, Mace took to the House Floor to levy allegations of ‘secretly filming her, physically assaulting her, and engaging in a conspiracy to drug, rape, and film other women,’ against her ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant.

During that speech, Mace also proclaimed she was going ‘scorched earth’ on Bryant and three of his partners while sharing that she had found photos of a naked teenager on his phone, as well as videos of a naked woman.

As Nancy Mace campaigns for South Carolina governor, allegations of brash behavior have been raised against her. She described a NY Mag article detailing the claims as a ‘hit piece’

Mace’s breach over the Epstein files makes it less likely that she will get Trump’s support

Her former staff, however, viewed that floor speech as a sign that she needed serious mental help. 

‘Looking at the floor speech and what went on there, it’s very clear that that was the breaking point to me,’ the former staffer told NY Mag.

‘Because you’ve now gone from standing up for people – whether rightfully, wrongfully, performative or not – you were on this mission, and now this is about you. The whole frame shifted, and she centered herself in it all. That’s when it became apparent to me that this is broken,’ the staffer added.

Ahead of the story’s publication, Mace went on offense, taking the ‘hit piece’ as a badge of honor.

‘As NY Mag publishes the next national hit piece against me tomorrow, the establishment doesn’t go after people who fall in line. They go after people who don’t,’ Mace stated in a Sunday evening post to her X account.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment. When you stand for something, you make enemies. I’ve never let that stop me from doing my job – and I’m not starting now,’ Mace also argued in her own defense. 

As Mace campaigns for South Carolina governor, other allegations of brash behavior have also been raised against her.

A police report filed by the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police last fall alleged that Mace, a Republican Congresswoman and candidate for governor, was scheduled to receive an escort from her curbside drop-off point straight to her flight at 6:30am.

This grab from a video made public by the Charleston County Aviation Authority appears to show Mace berating an airport staff member

Mace is seen here in an undated photograph in a swimsuit and with a glass in her hand

Mace and her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant

Video footage released by the airport shows Mace arriving later than planned, and then not having security waiting for her at the allegedly agreed-upon meeting spot.

The report also alleges that Mace was ‘very irate’ and used derogatory and profane language toward the staff. 

Former US Congressman from South Carolina and current Fox News host Trey Gowdy unleashed an unforgiving description of  Mace shortly after the incident, when she was captured on video berating staff at the Charleston Airport.

Gowdy described Mace as ‘an apoplectic congresswoman having a psychotic episode in Charleston at an airport.’

Former staff are not the only enemies Mace has made in Washington, as her list of opponents even includes President Donald Trump himself.

MAGA House Republicans – including Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who resigned her seat at the start of this year, and Mace went rogue against Trump and signed the petition to discharge the Epstein files last summer.

In a crowded GOP primary field, Trump’s endorsement will loom large, but Mace’s breach over the Epstein files makes it less likely that she will get the President’s support.

Mace is currently polling near the top of the list among her primary opponents, with various polls landing her between first and third.

The list of GOP candidates for South Carolina governor currently includes South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, Attorney General Alan Wilson and Mace’s House colleague Ralph Norman.