WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., took to the House floor Monday night to accuse four men — including her ex-fiancé — of rape, sex trafficking and other sex crimes against her and other female victims, which she called “some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable.”
Mace also accused South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a potential GOP rival for governor in 2026, of failing to prosecute the men after, she said, she presented his office with evidence.
Mace, who is in her third term, made the accusations during a more than 50-minute speech that was attended by several GOP colleagues, her mother and a dozen other female supporters.
“I rise today to call out the cowards who think they can prey on women and get away with it. Today, I’m going scorched earth. So let the bridges I burn this evening light our way forward,” she said in her floor speech.
“We’re talking about rape, nonconsensual photos, nonconsensual videos of women and underage girls and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district,” Mace continued.
All four men Mace named on the House floor vehemently denied the allegations to NBC News.
Mace’s former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, a Charleston software entrepreneur, said in a statement: “I categorically deny these allegations. I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name.”
Mace is widely expected to jump into the 2026 race for governor, and one of her potential rivals is Wilson, the attorney general, who is the son of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
In her speech, Mace accused Alan Wilson of delaying an investigation into the allegations after she handed over graphic videos, photos and other evidence of the men raping her and others, as well as photographs of underage girls, last year.
Many of the details Mace shared were extremely graphic. She said that in November 2023, her ex-fiancé gave her access to his phone. On it, she said, she discovered videos of “incapacitated” women being raped. To her shock, one of them was her, she said.
“I turned up the volume to hear if there was audio. I heard my voice. I zoomed in on the video. And that woman was me,” Mace said. “My entire body was paralyzed, and I couldn’t move. Were my feet on the floor? Was I breathing? I have no idea.”
When she turned over the evidence, Mace said, Wilson’s office told her that she would be investigated.
“Women who come forward in your system are treated like criminals under your leadership, in your system and on your watch. Attorney General Alan Wilson, you know there were deliberate delays in an investigation in what I turned over,” Mace said. “Two hundred and twenty-eight days of delay. And you know this, 228 days of delay. That’s seven months, two weeks and four days of delay to investigate. Once again, today, you are kicking the can down the road like you always do.”
Mace made her remarks during “general speeches,” a time when any lawmaker can go to the House floor and speak on any topic. House rules prohibit lawmakers from impugning other members of Congress in speeches, but they don’t say anything about other citizens.
Wilson’s office issued a lengthy statement Monday night calling Mace’s accusations that the office failed to act “categorically false.”
“Ms. Mace either does not understand or is purposefully mischaracterizing the role of the Attorney General. At this time, our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters. Additionally, the Attorney General and members of his office have had no role and no knowledge of these allegations until her public statements,” Wilson’s office said.
The office’s statement added that Mace and the attorney general have attended “multiple events together over the last six months” and that Mace has Wilson’s cellphone number but has never spoken to him about the matters. The office said it would always direct citizens who have evidence of crimes to their local law enforcement agencies, which would be responsible for the investigations.
“It is clear that Attorney General Alan Wilson has built his career on protecting the most vulnerable in our state; any statement otherwise is blatantly false and politically motivated,” his office said.
As a state lawmaker in 2019, during a contentious debate over a proposed abortion ban in South Carolina, Mace pushed for an exception for rape and incest and publicly said for the first time that she had been a victim of rape when she was just 16 years old.
