Press Releases

Nancy Mace Is Nothing But An Opportunist

Sep 15, 2020

Mace, who has repeatedly flip-flopped on her off-shore drilling stance, has taken $10,000 from oil giant Koch Industries PAC

Nancy Mace, Republican challenger in SC-01, has proven time and again to be an opportunist whose views on off-shore drilling are determined by whatever is most politically expedient. Now, with President Trump’s sudden opposition to offshore drilling, Mace’s position has once again changed.

“Nancy Mace views South Carolina’s coastal communities as a political opportunity to shore up support from Big Oil and party bosses,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “After opposing a federal ban on offshore drilling and smearing Rep. Cunningham’s bipartisan bill, she had the audacity to come out in support of a federal ban because the President changed his mind and she needs him to have a fighting chance in November. Nancy Mace’s words cannot be trusted after her latest example of willingly selling her public support on critical issues to achieve her political aspirations.”

Here’s a timeline of Nancy Mace’s view on off-shore drilling over the course of the last year:

  • In September of 2019, Mace appeared at a rally in support of the bipartisan move to ban off-shore drilling and posed for a photo-op with Rep. Joe Cunningham and Gov. Henry McMaster. After the event, Nancy took to Facebook to publicly oppose the federal ban on off-shore drilling, suddenly claiming the effort was “usurping the states control over their coasts.”

  • Nancy receives $10,000 from oil giant Koch Industries’ PAC, in addition to benefiting from over $180,000 in outside spending from Koch-funded Super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action.

  • While Democrats and Republicans alike celebrated the bipartisan victory of passing the offshore drilling ban in the House, Mace continued to oppose Cunningham’s bill out of hyper-partisan hostility.

  • Mace even attacked Cunningham personally, suggesting the bill’s failure to get through the Senate was from a lack of bipartisan leadership, even though the bill was a bipartisan effort and that Rep. Cunningham has been consistently ranked one of the most bipartisan members of Congress.

  • Even though the Republican Party had total control of South Carolina — including the Governor’s office and both legislative chambers — Mace still failed to pass her resolution regarding offshore drilling activities along South Carolina’s coast. The resolution has still not been adopted to this day, proving her failures as a lawmaker and leader.

  • Nancy’s latest flip flop was as recent as last week, where she publicly claimed to support a federal ban now that it was proposed by President Trump. This is shocking, given that Mace ardently opposed Cunningham’s efforts last year that would have banned offshore drilling at the federal level, claiming it was an infringement on state’s rights. Many are suggesting President Trump’s moratorium on offshore drilling is more a campaign strategy to win key coastal states such as Florida and South Carolina than an effort to actually protect the coasts from offshore drilling. Cunningham’s bill to permanently ban offshore drilling would have been significantly better for South Carolinians, but Nancy Mace is only interested in playing partisan games and using President Trump’s visit to the state as another photo-op to boost her image with his base.

While it may be hard to identify exactly where Nancy Mace stands on offshore drilling, it’s clear that she will go wherever President Trump and the money from her donors takes her, even if in opposition to her own beliefs. By contrast, South Carolinians will never have to worry about Congressman Joe Cunningham flip flopping to support special interests because he rejects all PAC money and works across party lines to give the Lowcountry a voice in Washington.

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