Nancy Mace, a businesswoman and the first woman graduate of The Citadel, announced on Saturday that she will challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Republican Senate primary in South Carolina.
I grew up during the Reagan years. I believe our fortieth president understood what being an American was all about. He was proud, resolute, and he was an eternal optimist. Our friends knew he would be steadfast and our enemies respected him., said Mace in a press statement. President Reagan helped regain our national pride, but he also left us with a powerful warning. He said, Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. He said we must fight for it, protect it, and defend it.
I think those words ring true now more than ever, she added.
She explained that Washington is out of touch with the rest of America and that the federal government has become far too intrusive. While Washington is trying to solve all of our problems, Mace says that we are still not better off for it.
[I]n the last decade or so, our government has taken a significant turn for the worse. Americans are waking up to the fact that our freedoms are being threatened, said Mace. There are powerful forces in Washington that consider individual liberty passé and the Constitution dead letter.
I believe our state desperately needs new leadership, she added, someone who truly understands the challenges before us and whats at stake and is willing to fight for the principles that make America great.
Mace is branding herself as a fiscal conservative. On her issues page, she speaks against a government that picks winners and loser and supports fixing the tax code. She slammed excessive spending and warns of the coming wave of entitlement costs that will bankrupt our nation.
On the economy, Mace explains that the role of the federal government isnt to create jobs, but rather to foster an atmosphere via a free market in which businesses and employees can succeed.
She is also holds traditional conservative views on a number of issues, casting herself as a pro-Second Amendment and pro-life. And while she supports the concept of immigration reform, Mace opposes the current proposal in Congress.
Mace, a wife and mother of two, joins Richard Cash as the second Republican primary challenger to Graham.
Maces candidacy still faces an uphill battle. Graham is a well funded candidate, having $6.25 million on hand for his re-election campaign. He has, however, slipped some among South Carolina Republicans. An April poll from Winthrop University found that Grahams approval rating had dropped by 14 points, from 71.6% to 57.5%.
Graham has done much to alienate conservatives in the Palmetto State. He came out strongly against Pauls filibuster of CIA nominee John Brennan and refused to join a filibuster of new gun control measures in the Senate. He also support immigration reform in the Senate, which may not settle well among conservative in South Carolina.