U.S. Rep Nancy Mace, one of five Republicans competing in the 2026 gubernatorial primary, speaks before Spartanburg County Republican Women, gathering at the Citizens and Southern Event Center in downtown Spartanburg, S.C. Monday, August 25, 2025.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivers remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, a day after Republicans claimed a majority in the House in the next congressional term.

A prominent Republican congresswoman this week shamed GOP leaders, alleging Rep. Nancy Pelosi "was a more effective Speaker than any Republican this century," arguing Republicans should learn from her leadership and claiming the party is marginalizing rank-and-file members, including women.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina's first congressional district, which covers parts of Charleston, cited issues maintaining where there was a "bipartisan supermajority," votes were nearly impossible to get bills passed.

In an op-ed for The New York Times published Monday, Dec. 8, Mace wrote she came to Congress five years ago "believing I could make a difference for my constituents, for South Carolina and for a country I love deeply," but learned "the system in the House promotes control by party leaders over accountability and achievement."

Mace, 48, became the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state in 2021 and has criticized President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack. But she has since become one of his closest allies.

"No one can be held responsible for inaction, so far too little gets done," Mace wrote in the opinion commentary titled, "What’s the Point of Congress?" "The obstacles to achieving almost anything are enough to make any member who came to Washington with noble intentions ask: Why am I even here?"

Pelosi, an outspoken Trump critic, served as a former House speaker and announced her retirement in November. The stanch liberal congresswoman from San Francisco served two stints as the highest-ranking member of Congress, first from 2007-2011 and again from 2019-2023.

In October, California Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat whose district includes part of San Francisco, launched a campaign to seek the vacant seat. Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff for progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is also vying for the spot.

Pelosi's time in office led two impeachments of Trump, organized efforts to convince former President Joe Biden to drop his bid for a second term and pushed through the Affordable Care Act, the biggest expansion of health care in a half-century.

'A hard truth Republicans don't want to hear'

Mace, who launched a campaign for the South Carolina gubernatorial race on Aug. 4, called her claims about Pelosi and House control "a hard truth Republicans don’t want to hear."

South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, state Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell are also running as Republicans for South Carolina governor.

"I agree with her (Pelosi) on essentially nothing. But she understood something we don’t: No majority is permanent," Mace wrote. "When Democrats hold the majority, they ram through the most progressive policies they can. They deliver for the coalition that elected them while they are in power."

Republicans, Mace deplored, do the opposite.

"We get the majority, then become petrified of losing it. We pass the most moderate policies we can pressure conservatives to accept, betraying the coalition that delivered us here. Ms. Pelosi was ruthless, but she got things done. The current House is restrictive and ineffective, control with barely any results. Republican leadership seems intent on replicating her model of consolidation without her bold vision to push through the policies that won us the majority."

Mace went onto claim opening up the floor would lead to more conservative bills passing as well as more bipartisan ones, adding only 5% of the bills introduced this year have seen a floor vote.

Doing so, she said would allow some Republican priorities to "finally get a vote."

"So, too, would common-sense bipartisan measures," Mace wrote. "The point is to do more and let voters see where their representatives stand. What we have now is the worst of all worlds: little accountability, transparency and results."

Contributing: Susan Page and Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Hard truth': Nancy Mace says Pelosi was a better House speaker

Reporting by Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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