Rep. Nancy Mace Debuts Tattoo Sleeves That Cover Her Arms

Nancy Mace, 48, launched a YouTube podcast called Get Maced this week, and in the introductory video went sleeveless in public for the first time, revealing nine tattoos covering both arms that she had kept hidden under clothing for months.

The artwork includes the word "Justice," a lion, a large bird, a flower, a sun, what appears to be the Virgin Mary, and the opening line of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway on one arm.

Mace first discussed the tattoos in a February Politico profile. She got all nine in rapid succession between late 2023 and early 2024, a stretch she described as among the most turbulent of her life. Her engagement fell apart.

All of her congressional staffers left. She said the tattoos were a way to "reclaim" her body and feel "the pain that I need to feel."

The podcast launch comes as Mace closes out the final months of a congressional term that will end in January.

She vacated her seat to run for governor of South Carolina last year, finished fifth in the Republican primary out of five major candidates and decided against entering the race for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. She says she plans to return to the private sector, possibly starting companies.

"It's time. I've turned on my new microphone," she told a South Carolina outlet this week. The tattoos suggest she is not turning it off quietly.