Outgoing South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace has put her heavily tattooed arms on full display in promotional material for her new YouTube show “Get Maced,” revealing ink she largely kept covered during her time in Congress.
The 48-year-old Republican, who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, appeared sleeveless in recent videos and social posts promoting the program. Images show detailed work across both arms, including an eagle, vertical lettering reading “JUSTICE,” a lion, a rose, a haloed religious figure, and a mountain landscape scene.
Mace first discussed the tattoos in a February 2026 Politico profile. She said she got nine of them in rapid succession between late 2023 and early 2024. That period included the end of her engagement to Patrick Bryant and the departure of multiple staffers from her congressional office.
“So my story is I am totally broken,”
Mace told the outlet at the time. She described the tattoos as a way to reclaim her body and identity, adding that they provided
“the pain that I need to feel.”
One of the pieces reproduces the opening line of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway:
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”
Mace, born Nancy Ruth Mace on December 4, 1977, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the daughter of retired Army Brig. Gen. James Emory Mace and schoolteacher Anne Mace. She became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets at The Citadel in 1999. She later earned a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and served in the South Carolina House before winning her congressional seat in 2020.
She has been married and divorced twice and has two children from her second marriage. Her engagement to software entrepreneur Patrick Bryant ended in late 2023. Mace later accused Bryant and others of serious misconduct in a February 2025 House floor speech. Bryant has denied the claims. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has confirmed an investigation into related allegations that began in December 2023.
Mace largely concealed the tattoos while serving in Congress, typically covering them with blazers and long sleeves. The public reveal comes after she finished fifth in the June 2026 South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary. She has said she will leave office when her current term ends in January 2027 and has declined to run in the special Senate primary following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The “Get Maced” channel features Mace commenting on current events. She posted the intro montage to her YouTube channel on August 12, 2026, and has rebranded elements of her social media accounts to promote the show. The sleeveless appearances marking the tattoo reveal began circulating widely in mid-August 2026.
Mace has described the period surrounding the tattoos as one of personal and professional upheaval. In the Politico interview she spoke openly about trauma, PTSD, and a sense of being “totally broken.” The ink itself, she said, was part of an effort to take ownership of her body after those experiences.
Details of all nine tattoos have not been fully itemized by Mace. Visible pieces documented in her recent videos and photos include American traditional-style work featuring the eagle, the “JUSTICE” lettering, the lion, the religious figure, the rose, and the landscape scene. She has not publicly named the remaining tattoos.
Mace continues to post content on the new channel while completing her final months in the House. Her congressional term ends in January 2027.
