Nancy Mace says GOP has to be ‘smarter’ in talking about women to win in 2024

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said the GOP must be smarter about appealing to Republican women and accused her conference of doing nothing to help women in the seven months since Republicans retook the majority of the House in January. 

“We can take those votes, but we haven’t done anything in seven months in this legislative session to show that we care about women. And that’s where my frustration is,” Mace said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Shannon Bream.

Mace – who describes herself as pro-life — said the GOP must do more to “show that we care about women,” and she suggested the GOP do that by pairing every anti-abortion vote they take with a vote on a measure that helps women.

“Every time we do an abortion vote, and I’m pro-life, we should also be having a vote on bills and legislation and amendments that showcase that we care about women,” Mace said, before suggesting various issues the House GOP could take up.

“What are we doing to help women who’ve been raped or girls who are victims of incest? What are we doing to improve the foster care system for children who are unwanted when they’re born? How are we ensuring that women have the option of adoption versus abortion when making really tough decisions? Are we giving counseling to women who’ve had abortions? Because a lot of women have very difficult times recovering mentally, making that decision afterwards, they regret it. And so what are we doing to show that we care about women and finding that middle ground?”

Mace also defended her opposition to a GOP effort to block funding for women in the military to cross state lines to get an abortion. She blasted her conference for choosing to go after the military — a move Mace saw as politically dangerous. 

“I am pro-life. My voting record will reflect that. But I also don’t believe it’s okay, at this time, this recently post-Roe, to target women in uniform. That’s wrong. It looks bad,” Mace said.

Mace said that Republicans who shame her for taking the positions she has “really don’t read the room about what suburban moms and women really care about in this country today.”

“It’s the No. 2 issue in swing districts and swing seats. And if you want to win the White House, if you want to keep the majority in the House, and you want to flip the Senate, then we’ve got to be a lot smarter in how we talk about women and how we show them that we care,” she continued.