Henry McMaster

Aug. 4 (UPI) — United States Representative Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announced her run for South Carolina governor Monday morning to succeed Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

“This morning, I’m making it official. I am running to be your governor of the great state of South Carolina,” Mace said in an announcement Monday morning at The Citadel, where she became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program in 1999.

Mace, 47, first came to Congress in 2021. She has developed a reputation as a GOP firebrand in recent months.

Mace told Fox News last week that she was leaning toward running for state-wide office, citing economic issues, crime and “gender-bending ideology” at colleges in the state.

Mace will run against fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., state Attorney General Alan Wilson, R, state Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R, in the primary.

Mace told Fox News that if she launched a gubernatorial bid, she and Wilson would run a “two-man race.”

“If I get in, I will fight to the finish, and I will take out South Carolina’s attorney general, because he’s turned a blind eye on women and on children and on the state for a lot of reasons. He might force me to do this,” Mace said.

“South Carolina is tired of the politicians who smile for the cameras, lie to your face, and then vanish when it’s time to lead,” she said.

A poll released by the South Carolina Policy Council showed Mace narrowly leading Wilson in the primary among Republican-identifying voters.

June 26 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the nonprofit’s arm that covers South Carolina, can’t sue the state over its closing off of the nonprofit’s Medicaid funding because it provides abortions.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed our right to exclude abortion providers from receiving taxpayer dollars,” wrote Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., in an X post Thursday.

“Seven years ago, we took a stand to protect the sanctity of life and defend South Carolina’s authority and values,” he added, “and today, we are finally victorious.”

The 6-3 decision followed the court’s ideological makeup, with the three liberal judges in dissent while the six conservative judges ruled in support.

The court’s syllabus noted 42 U.S. Code Section 1983, which allows private parties to file suit against state officials who violate their Constitutional rights. However, in the opinion of the Court, which was delivered by Justice Neil Gorsuch, he wrote that “federal statutes do not automatically confer [Section 1983]-enforceable ‘rights.'”

“This is especially true of spending-power statutes like Medicaid, where ‘the typical remedy’ for violations is federal funding termination, not private suits,” he continued.

“No court has addressed whether that Medicare provision creates [Section 1983] rights,” he later wrote.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the dissent, and she also referred to Section 1983.

“South Carolina asks us to hollow out that provision so that the State can evade liability for violating the rights of its Medicaid recipients to choose their own doctors,” Jackson stated. “The Court abides South Carolina’s request. I would not.”

South Carolina had announced in July of 2018 that Planned Parenthood could no longer participate in the state’s Medicaid program, under a state law that prohibits the use of its own public funding for abortions.

The order further affected patients in that it had the effect of also blocking Planned Parenthood patients from receiving services such as breast exams, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic announced on its social media platform Thursday that, “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that people using Medicaid in South Carolina no longer have the freedom to choose Planned Parenthood South Atlantic as their sexual and reproductive health care provider.”

“If you are a patient using Medicaid, keep your appointment,” the post continued. “We’re still here to provide you with the low or no cost care you deserve.”

The post concluded with “We’re in this with you, and we aren’t going anywhere.”