Nancy Mace Scrambles (and Fails) to Shut Down Booze-Run Rumors

South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace wants to claim that a genetic condition means she wouldn’t have sent staffers on late-night booze runs, but a former staffer is calling bullshit—and they brought receipts.

In response to a sweeping profile, including claims that Mace dispatched staffers on after-hours trips for alcohol, the Republican lawmaker claimed that she was physically incapable of drinking in excess.

“I have a lifelong condition called hemochromatosis, a genetic disease where my body absorbs too much iron. I can only get rid of iron by bleeding it out. So I have a lot of phlebotomies. Any and all alcohol makes it worse,” Mace wrote on X Tuesday.

Natalie Johnson, who previously served as Mace’s director of communications, was quick to point out that Mace’s claim was not only ridiculous but even worse than what was previously reported.

“Nancy Mace claiming she doesn’t drink alcohol might be the funniest, most brazen lie she’s told to date,” she wrote on X Tuesday. “The woman drank so much she’d have interns or junior staff run to Congressional Liquor during the work day so she could imbibe during telephone town halls.”

Johnson left Mace’s office in 2021, during a turbulent six-week stretch that cost the congressperson multiple staffers.

Johnson shared multiple photographs of Mace holding alcoholic beverages, and even looking inebriated in a separate X post. “Cheers!” Johnson wrote.

Johnson also shared Mace’s own X post from February 2025 celebrating “National Drink Wine Day.”

Members of Congress are explicitly barred from instructing their staffers to run personal errands, and staffers are not permitted to purchase alcohol for their boss’s personal consumption. One staffer has alleged Mace’s excessive drinking and marijuana use became an issue at work.