A man has been arrested and Nancy Mace is wearing a wrist brace and shoulder sling after the South Carolina congresswoman said she was “physically accosted” in a Capitol office building on Tuesday afternoon.
Mace, she was “was physically accosted at the Capitol,” by “a pro-tr*ns man.”
“One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it'll heal just fine,” Mace wrote on X. “Your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down.”
Mace spent much of Tuesday afternoon portraying the incident as a vicious assault by a pro-trans advocate, but individuals who reportedly witnessed her interaction with the alleged assailant are telling a very different story.
According to individuals who spoke to The Imprint — a nonprofit news outlet focused on child welfare, juvenile justice, and other issues affecting American youth — attendees at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Foster Care Independence Act were shocked over the arrest of James McIntyre , an award-winning foster youth advocate, shortly after he left the Rayburn House Office Building near the Capitol.
Three attendees told The Imprint that McIntyre, 33, had done nothing more than shake the Mace's hand and exchange a few words. Mace is a co-chair of the bipartisan foster care caucus, and spoke at the event.
Elliott Hinkle, a youth LGBTQ rights advocate, told The Imprint that McIntyre shook Mace's hand and made a comment that the many transgender youth in foster care “need your support.”
“From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent,” Hinkle said, adding that an aide to Mace later tracked McIntyre down and asked for his name and to repeat his comments to the representative. Two other witnesses corroborated his description of events.
The Washington Post also reported on the interaction. “What we witnessed was a handshake, a passionate shake, but it didn't look like an assault or intended aggression,” Hinkle told the outlet.
McIntyre was arrested shortly after leaving the building, and was charged with assaulting a government official.
Lisa Dickson, a longtime foster youth advocate who also attended the event, wrote on Facebook that she felt deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a “national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space – and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights.”
In a separate post, Dickson wrote that the event “was not the day or the time for a self-serving publicity stunt – especially not a politician lashing out at a vulnerable young person who just took her at her word that, when helping foster youth 'all suggestions are welcome.'”
Mace, who once proclaimed herself as “pro-transgender rights,” made headlines last month after introducing legislation that would bar transgender lawmakers and Capitol staff from using bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. The ploy was clearly targeted at incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first trans lawmaker ever elected to Congress.
The South Carolina representative has gone all in on anti-trans culture war grievance politics in recent weeks. Since introducing the bathroom legislation she has posted incessantly under the hashtag “HoldTheLine,” misgendering trans people and advocates, hung papers reading “BIOLOGICAL” over the signs for women's restrooms in the Capitol, and accusing transgender people of being mentally ill.
Last week, Mace borrowed a bullhorn from another congressional office to scream a Miranda warning at what she referred to as “tr***y” protesters opposing her bathroom bill.
On Wednesday, Mace arrived at the Capitol wearing a wrist brace and a sling to immobilize her arm. “This is what the Left does to women,” she wrote in a post on
In another post, Mace thanked President-elect Donald Trump for calling to check in on her. “I'm going to be fine just as soon as the pain and soreness subside,” she wrote. “January 20th can't come soon enough.”
