Rep. Nancy Mace has ripped Speaker Mike Johnson for the way he has run the House of Representatives in a New York Times op-ed, the latest sign of discontent among Republicans with the speaker.
Mace, a former moderate who moved hard to the right who is now running for governor, criticized Johnson and House leadership for closing the lawmaking process and concentrating it among themselves.
“Would opening up the floor lead to more conservative bills passing or more bipartisan ones? The honest answer is: It would do both,” she wrote.
“Some Republican priorities would finally get a vote. So, too, would common-sense bipartisan measures. The point is to do more and let voters see where their representatives stand. What we have now is the worst of all worlds: little accountability, transparency and results.”
Mace has increasingly broken with Republican leadership since she came to Congress. She was one of eight Republicans who voted to eject Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023.
She also joined a discharge petition started by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to force a vote to disclose files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson and Trump initially opposed it before they said they would support the vote, which passed almost unanimously.
She also joined a discharge petition to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks. Mace criticized Johnson by comparing her to former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Here’s a hard truth Republicans don’t want to hear: Nancy Pelosi was a more effective House speaker than any Republican this century,” she wrote. “I agree with her on essentially nothing. But she understood something we don’t: No majority is permanent. When Democrats hold the majority, they ram through the most progressive policies they can.”
Mace went on to criticize Johnson’s leadership as “restrictive and ineffective, control with barely any results.” She also criticized the way that women in the House Republican conference have been treated.
“Women will never be taken seriously until leadership decides to take us seriously, and I’m no longer holding my breath,” she said. “Since 2013, the Republican conference chair position has gone to a woman. It’s the token slot, the designated leadership role for the top woman in the conference, while the real power lies in other offices.”
Mace’s complaints echo those of other Republicans in the conference. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing firebrand who in the past clashed with Mace, announced she would resign from Congress at the beginning of January. In addition, Rep. Elise Stefanik criticized Johnson for not including an amendment that she wanted in must-pass legislation.
As a result, members of Congress have largely resorted to using discharge petitions–which require members receive 218 signatures to force a vote on the House floor and get around leadership–to pass legislation they want.
But Mace complained that this would not fix the larger problems.
“We can do better,” she wrote. “We can restore regular order, empower members to legislate and deliver on our promises. But that will require a fundamental shift, one that prioritizes courage over control. Let us vote. Let the people see. Let the chips fall. That’s democracy.”
