Report: Hours After Lindsay Graham's Death, Nancy Mace Is Eyeing His Senate Seat

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GOP Rep. Nancy Mace may already be eyeing the seat vacated by the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday, early reports say.

Graham died after collapsing at his Capitol Hill home from what his campaign announced was “a brief and sudden illness” at the age of 71. The Washington Post reported that paramedics were called to the address at roughly 8:30 p.m. for a man having chest pains, and later said that the man was undergoing cardiac arrest and being administered CPR.

He was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” a statement from his office, put out in the early hours of Sunday morning, read.

Graham, a hawk who had been in the upper chamber since 2003, easily won the state’s Republican primary this year and was a heavy favorite — if perhaps not an absolute lock to win — in this fall’s race against Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews.

While state law allows GOP Gov. Henry McMaster to appoint Graham’s replacement until the general election decides who gets the six-year term, at least one prominent Palmetto State politician was looking toward replacing Graham: Mace, who will be leaving the House in January after mounting an unsuccessful campaign for the gubernatorial nomination.

Hours after Graham’s death, Politico first reported that sources close to Mace said she was looking into polling for an exploratory bid this coming week.

The two sources “familiar with her thinking,” as Politico called them, noted that she still had federal campaign money in her account for congressional runs. She’s served South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District since 2021.

Several things may indeed hinder Mace’s run, however, aside from any potential unseemliness from how soon after Graham’s death news of her nascent campaign hit the press.

In particular, Mace was a strong opponent of Graham’s on hawkishness toward Iran, particularly after he said on Fox News earlier this month that “I go back to South Carolina, I’m asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Middle East.”

“What I want you do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, step forward and say, ‘This is my fight, too. I join America. I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” Graham said.

Mace publicly rebuked Graham, according to The Hill: “What in the world would possess anyone to say this?” she said in response to the clip. “I do not want to send South Carolina’s sons and daughters into war with Iran.”

Then there was the fact that Mace has also run for Senate before, against Graham, and lost; in 2014, she launched a long-shot bid to take the nomination against the incumbent but finished in fifth place, instead.

And then there was her poor showing in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary, as well.

While she was arguably the biggest name on the national stage in the race, she finished fifth out of five active candidates in the first round, drawing only 12.1 percent of the vote. State Attorney General Alan Wilson ended up winning a runoff against Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

But, perhaps most critically, Mace had become a strong critic of the Trump administration on a number of matters, perhaps most critically the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“Trump made clear he did not want her to win that gubernatorial run when he endorsed a rival in that primary, and those in his orbit are already raising those disagreements in private as they discuss Graham’s seat, according to two Trump allies,” Politico noted.

Trump himself has made no statement on the matter of Graham’s replacement as of Sunday morning, simply posting to Truth Social shortly after the death was announced that Graham “was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).

Birthplace

Morristown, New Jersey

Education

Catholic University of America

Languages Spoken

English, Spanish

Topics of Expertise

American Politics, World Politics, Culture