Mace was born at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to United States Army officer James Emory Mace and school teacher Anne Mace. Entering The Citadel with the first group of four female cadets in 1996 she became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets in 1999, receiving a degree in Business Administration, magna cum laude. During her time as a cadet, her father, a 1963 Citadel graduate, was serving as Commandant of Cadets. While she was the first female cadet to receive a bachelor's degree, women were enrolled and had received master's degrees from The Citadel Graduate College since the 1970s. Mace also graduated from the University of Georgia, where she earned a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, focusing on public relations.
Career
In 2008, Mace started a small consulting business called The Mace Group. The Mace Group provides public relations, marketing and web services to clients in a variety of industries. Some recent political clients have included Senator Tim Scott, Congressman Mick Mulvaney, and South Carolina State Senator Tom Davis. She is Vice Chair of The Citadel School of Business Advisory Board, on the National Board of Directors for the Medal of Honor Bowl, a board member of The Citadel Regimental Band and Pipes Association; past board member of Childspring International; past president of the Greater Atlanta Citadel Alumni Club; a past district director for The Citadel Alumni Association; past panelist on the 12th Annual Conference of Women in Higher Education; and participant in the Corbin Council conference on Assimilation of Women at Military Colleges. In August 2014, Mace participated in the Cold Water Challenge in order to raise awareness of the charity Autism Speaks. In 2014, she received the "Young Alumnus Award" from the Citadel Alumni Association and in 2017 she received the "Mary Dean Brewer Woman of Distinction" award from the Eastern Carolina Girl Scouts. From September 2015 until August of 2016 she served as coalitions director and field director for the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign in South Carolina. Mace is the author of In the Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel. She chronicles her upbringing as the daughter of a Citadel graduate and retired U.S. Army General, as well as her experience as a female cadet attending the historically all-male military college.
On August 3, 2013, Mace announced that she would seek the GOP nomination for the United States Senate in South Carolina for the 2014 election. Mace won 6.2 percent of the vote with 19,560 votes cast in her name in the Republican Primary.
On September 18, 2017, Mace announced and filed as a Republican to run in a special electionfor the South Carolina State House District 99 seat being vacated by Jimmy Merrill, who resigned earlier that month following an indictment and plea deal for several ethics violations. She received 49.5% of the votes in the November 14 Republican primary, 13 votes short of winning the nomination outright. She defeated the second place challenger, Mount Pleasant town councilman Mark Smith on November 28 in a runoff, 63-37%. Mace defeated Democrat Cindy Boatright in the January 16, 2018, general election by a margin of 2,066 to 1,587 votes or 57-43%. Mace was sworn in as a member of the General Assembly on January 23, 2018, by Speaker Jay Lucas.
2018 re-election
Mace saw no opposition in the June 2018 Republican primary. She faced Democratic nominee and Mount Pleasant resident Jen Gibson in the general election on November 6. Mace won the election to a full term by an increased margin from the January special election, winning both Berkeley and Charleston counties and all but 2 precincts in the district.
Tenure
In 2019, Mace successfully advocated for the inclusion of exceptions for rape and incest in a fetal heartbeat abortion ban bill that passed in the state house. In a speech on the state house floor, Mace revealed that she had been raped at age 16. She has stated that she opposes abortion but does not believe the government has the right to tell a victim of rape or incest they do not have the right to an abortion.
2020 U.S. House campaign
Mace announced in June 2019 that she would seek the Republican nomination for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, anchored in Charleston and currently Represented by Joe Cunningham. Cunningham won in an upset in a district Donald Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2016. Mace faced Mount Pleasant City Councilwoman Kathy Landing and Bikers for Trump founder Chris Cox in the Republican primary on June 9, 2020. Mace won the primary with 57.5% of the vote.
