Controversial Rep. Nancy Mace officially entered the 2026 South Carolina gubernatorial race Monday, vowing that “God’s not done with South Carolina and neither am I.”

Mace (R-SC) announced her campaign to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster after weeks of sending strong signals that she intended to seek higher office.

“I’m running for Governor of South Carolina to deliver for President Trump at the state level and export all radical policies out of the state of South Carolina,” the 47-year-old three-term rep told The Post.

“We’ve got statewide officials who were silent while a sanctuary sheriff let criminal illegal aliens who were rapists, murderers and pedophiles roam free. We’ve got corruption in our courts, predators getting sweetheart deals, and a political class more focused on protecting each other than protecting you.”

Mace fashioned herself as an aspiring “America First” governor and touted some of her achievements in Congress, such as her push to block transgender women from using Capitol bathroom facilities and legislation “protecting women from violent illegal aliens.”

Her newly launched campaign website quickly blasted out a video featuring news headlines acknowledging how the “firebrand” rep had drawn ire from members of her own party.

“Something is broken in South Carolina. They said stay quiet, I spoke up. They said play nice, I fought back. They said sit down, and I stood up,” she said.

“Corruption, chaos, cowardice — I’ve seen it all.”

“Get ready, South Carolina. This isn’t just a campaign, this is a calling. You and me, this is where our mission begins,” she added.

Mace’s entrance into the race means that she is leaving South Carolina’s 1st congressional district up for grabs in the 2026 midterm elections.

After announcing her campaign on “Fox & Friends,” Mace formally kicked off her gubernatorial run at The Citadel, from where she matriculated in 1999 as the first female graduate from its Corps of Cadets.

“We can continue doing the things we’ve always done, with weak leadership who turned a blind eye to sanctuary policies, who turned a blind eye to trannies invading women’s spaces, an unaccountable judicial process, and failed schools or we can chart a new course — one filled with common sense,” she declared.

Mace also laid out her key policy priorities as an aspiring governor: pursuing a zero-tolerance approach to crime, eliminating the state income tax, defending “biological reality,” overhauling the state’s judicial system, streamlining energy permitting, expanding school choice, and promoting vocational education. 

“I didn’t come to join the club. I came to shut it down,” she proclaimed. “I’m running to make a difference and deliver real results.”

Following her formal campaign debut, Mace is set to embark on what she has billed the “Mother of ALL Town Halls Tour,” starting in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday.

Since her election to the House in 2020, Mace has risen to national prominence and made a name for herself as an outspoken Republican Party member. 

Before entering Congress, Mace spent almost three years in the South Carolina legislature after mounting an unsuccessful primary challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in 2014.

She joins a crowded Republican primary field, including fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, state Attorney General Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

Mace has already traded barbs with some of her competitors, namely Wilson, whom she publicly accused of ignoring allegations Mace suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her fiance and others.

Wilson has called those claims “categorically false,” and Mace is facing a defamation suit over the accusations.

Looming over the race will be the question of whether President Trump makes a formal endorsement. At the start of her tenure in Congress, Mace criticized Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, though she later voted against impeaching him.

That rebuke prompted Trump to endorse former South Carolina Rep. GOP Katie Arrington in a 2022 primary challenge to Mace, which she survived.  

Last year, Mace endorsed Trump over her former home state Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential primary, breaking with Norman to do so.

Whoever wins the Republican primary will be heavily favored to win the general election. South Carolina has not elected a Democratic governor since Jim Hodges won the office in 1998.