A top consultant for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), a candidate for Governor of South Carolina, has resigned, claiming she has “decided to turn her back on MAGA.” “Nancy Mace has yet again decided to turn her back on MAGA to hug the political cactus that is the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing of the Party. I have notified her and her team that I am resigning because of this,” Austin McCubbin said on X. “My name has been used publicly, while going back on her word to pay me, to trade on my Team Trump status and to work on her behalf with the White House, and I am 100% breaking with her campaign out of loyalty to the President. The 2026 gubernatorial race has always been first and foremost a run for the President’s endorsement. South Carolina is Trump Country,” McCubbin continued. McCubbin urged President Trump, his friends in the White House, and South Carolina voters not to support Mace for governor. Nancy Mace has yet again decided to turn her back on MAGA to hug the political cactus that is the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing of the Party. I have notified her and her team that I am resigning because of this. My name has been used publicly, while going back on her word to… https://t.co/h1pYBe0ZFr — J. Austin McCubbin (@austinmccubbin) December 1, 2025 Full Post: Nancy Mace has yet again decided to turn her back on MAGA to hug the political cactus that is the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing of the Party. I have notified her and her team that I am resigning because of this. My name has been used publicly, while going back on her word to pay me, to trade on my Team Trump status and to work on her behalf with the White House, and I am 100% breaking with her campaign out of loyalty to the President. The 2026 gubernatorial race has always been first and foremost a run for the President’s endorsement. South Carolina is Trump Country. Earlier this year Nancy parted ways with her General Consultant, because he was openly criticizing the President’s Iran strike and siding with Thomas Massie. Last month the Rand Paul-affiliated Protect Freedom PAC began spending money on Nancy’s behalf. I had no prior knowledge of that, and campaigns can’t control outside spending. I chalked it up to nothing but independent activity. When I talked to Nancy last Wednesday, it became clear she has fully embraced the Rand Paul PAC. She told me she is directing a personal friend to fund a 7-figure check to Rand’s PAC. She distanced herself, and now she’s fully embracing the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing for money. Nancy Mace is wittingly or unwittingly a proxy for Rand Paul’s 2028 presidential campaign. That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. She wouldn’t hear it when I warned her about the political risks and offered alternative solutions. She accused me of mansplaining, a woke term used by people who hate men, who ironically are her best demographic. That dog don’t hunt. Anyone who knows me knows that I have nothing personally against Rand or Nancy. This is about loyalty. My loyalty lies with President Trump, my colleagues I worked with in the campaign trenches and the MAGA base that I had the privilege to work with as the Team Trump SC State Director. Governor McMaster has been a great governor. He has been very loyal to the President. South Carolina needs someone cut from the same cloth, where you know their word is their bond. My advice to the President, my friends in the White House, and South Carolina Trump voters: scratch her name from the list. As we say in South Carolina, there’s no lesson in the second kick of a mule. Mace campaign advisor departs, claiming lawmaker abandoned MAGA https://t.co/boOypBZmyi — John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) December 1, 2025 POLITICO shared more: A spokesperson for Mace, in a statement in response to McCubbin’s post, said: “Mr. McCubbin didn’t raise a dime for the campaign or better yet, never even bothered showing up. When he demanded $10,000 a month for ‘services’ and was told no, he ran straight to X. Good luck with that.” President Donald Trump’s endorsement is all but certain to help propel his preferred candidate into Columbia’s top post. Mace — like the other candidates in the crowded field — has been angling for the president’s endorsement since her entry to the race in August. According to WCIV, McCubbin managed Mace’s 2022 congressional re-election and “operated as the South Carolina State Director for Team Trump in 2023 before joining the Trump Campaign Headquarters in 2024.” The rupture comes as Mace positions herself for a 2026 gubernatorial run in a state where Trump’s endorsement remains pivotal. https://t.co/DXVaQb1nfo — Newsweek (@Newsweek) December 1, 2025 WCIV noted: Mace’s team announced McCubbin’s addition to her gubernatorial campaign staff back in August, touting him as a “proven strategist and longtime Trump ally.” McCubbin said at the time that the congresswoman “worked for President Trump before it was cool” and that there wasn’t a candidate in the race “with a longer history of supporting President Trump.”