Rep. Nancy Mace dismisses allegations she received thousands extra in reimbursements

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is accused of inflating numbers on her housing expenses in Washington. A congressional ethics investigation will determine whether she has to repay thousands in taxpayer dollars.

The 1st District Republican, who’s running for governor, dismissed the accusations as retaliation from men with their own legal problems.

A report released Monday alleges that Mace received about $9,500 in reimbursements above the actual bills at her Washington residence between January 2023 and May 2024.

It provides the details to the House ethics committee’s vague announcement in January that it received a referral from the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent ethics watchdog.

Mace responded by blasting the office’s chief staff attorney.

She’s “not taking seriously an ethics complaint led by a man, Omar Ashmawy, who is himself accused of beating women and has a DUI,” spokeswoman Carlie Baker said in a statement to the SC Daily Gazette.

On social media, Mace posted headlines about Ashmawy’s 2022 charge of drunken driving and a 2017 civil lawsuit that accused him of harassing and assaulting women. He denied the accusations in news reports at the time. The lawsuit, which stemmed from a bar fight two years earlier, was settled before going to trial, according to court records.

Ashmawy did not respond Tuesday to phone calls to numbers listed for him in public records.

According to the report, the Office of Congressional Conduct’s six-member board voted unanimously in November to advance the allegations to the House ethics committee for further review.

“She may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law,” reads the report released Monday.

Federal law allows members of Congress to seek reimbursements for housing costs at their part-time home while on Capitol Hill.

If the ethics committee substantiates the allegations, Mace could be ordered to repay any overpayments, potentially about $9,500. The committee can also recommend sanctions such as a fine. But the U.S. House would have to approve them by a majority vote.

Like the state House Ethics Committee, its counterpart in the U.S. House is evenly split: five Democrats, five Republicans. Its chairman is U.S. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi.

Mace continued to claim her ex-fiancé is behind the complaint, without naming him.

The congresswoman and Patrick Bryant co-owned a townhouse in Washington, for which she sought reimbursements for utility bills and property taxes, according to the report.

“An accused woman-beater is the source of the complaint. An accused woman-beater ran the investigation,” reads Baker’s statement, referring to Bryant and Ashmawy.

“Congress should seriously examine whether a partisan OCC that retaliates against women and ignores its own evidentiary standards deserves to exist at all,” the statement concludes.

The office, which describes itself as independent and nonpartisan, has a six member board made up of three men and three women.

Mace’s office says she provided evidence to clear her. The report says Mace refused to cooperate with the review.

The couple broke up in late 2023. In a fiery, hour-long speech on the U.S. House floor in February 2025, Mace accused Bryant and three of his friends of committing “heinous crimes against women.” She says she is among the victims.

All four men have repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations. Lawsuits and counter-lawsuits followed, and in late November, a judge issued a sweeping gag order barring Bryant, Mace, and others involved in the lawsuits from speaking or posting about each another or the lawsuits.

When reached by the Gazette on Tuesday, Bryant declined to comment, citing the gag order.

Mace’s Republican opponents in the governor’s race did not weigh in to the ongoing allegations.

Candidate filing for the June GOP primary starts in two weeks. Other Republicans who have announced gubernatorial bids are Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, and Attorney General Alan Wilson.