Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) opened up about why she got nine tattoos while being a member of Congress.
In a profile published by Politico on Friday, February 27, 2026, Mace shared that she got the tattoos in “rapid succession” to feel “the pain that I need to feel” and “reclaim” her body and identity.
The US Rep shared that she got the tattoos over a short span in late 2023 and early 2024, amid a breakup with her fiancé and the departure of several staffers from her office. One of her tattoos is the first sentence of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.
Nancy Mace reveals why she got 9 tattoos in ‘rapid succession’ while serving in Congress https://t.co/TVDNmZWiYY pic.twitter.com/eW6jXnQEfG
— New York Post (@nypost) February 28, 2026
“So my story is I am totally broken,” said Nancy Mace in the profile, adding, “I don’t know that I’ll ever be OK with myself. There’s no end of the story where I’m whole.”
“I’m showing up to a family court hearing for a mom in a couple of weeks. I’m showing up to another court hearing for the family member of a murder victim in a couple of weeks. It’s just my reaction and my response … and it keeps me alive,” said the Congresswoman.
She also spoke about her relationship with her father, and emphasised that he “didn’t show her enough love.” Elsewhere in the profile, it was also noted that the congresswoman considers U.S. President Donald Trump a “father figure.”
“My father was gone much of the time and paid little attention to me when he was home. I sometimes wondered if he even loved me,” she recalled.
The woman you tried to destroy now speaks truth so loud it echoes in courtrooms, headlines, and the halls of Congress. I didn’t just survive – you gave me a righeous cause: to stand up to bullies, abusers and predators everywhere.
And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) June 15, 2025
Born on December 4, 1977, Macy is the daughter of Brig. Gen. James Emory Mace, who was a “Vietnam War hero and the most decorated Citadel alum — Bronze Stars, Silver Star, Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross,” and Anne Jamison Mace, who was a teacher. She is the third of the couple’s four children.
Mace made history as the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina, in 1999. She represented the 99th district in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2018 to 2020, before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
She made history again by becoming the first Republican woman to be elected to Congress from South Caroline. Mace was re-elected in 2022 and 2024. She also announced her candidacy for Governor of South Carolina in 2026 back in August 2025.
