Crossroads 2026: Nancy Mace’s State Director Resigns

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by WILL FOLKS

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The top official on U.S. congresswoman Nancy Mace‘s 2026 gubernatorial campaign has resigned from his post – citing Mace’s alleged decision to “turn her back on MAGA to hug the political cactus that is the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing of the Party.”

Political strategist J. Austin McCubbin – a staunch ally of U.S. president Donald Trump – was tapped as Mace’s state director back in August. At the time, he praised her for “work(ing) for President Trump before it was cool,” a reference to Mace’s extensive involvement on Trump’s victorious 2016 ‘First in the South’ presidential primary.

“There isn’t a more formidable candidate in this race with a longer history of supporting President Trump, and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about teaming up with Nancy for another historic win,” McCubbin said at the time. “Nancy Mace will be the most pro-Trump and America First governor in the country, and we will work tirelessly to make sure South Carolina’s best days are ahead of us.”

What a difference three months makes…

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According to a post on X, McCubbin notified Mace and her team he is resigning because she has “fully embraced the Rand Paul PAC.”

That’s a reference to the Protect Freedom PAC, which is supporting U.S. senator Rand Paul and other “pro-freedom and liberty-minded candidates.”

“This is about loyalty,” McCubbin wrote.

“Nancy Mace is wittingly or unwittingly a proxy for Rand Paul’s 2028 presidential campaign,” McCubbin added. “That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

According to the veteran strategist, Mace told him she was “directing a personal friend” to fund a seven-figure check to the pro-Paul PAC.

“She wouldn’t hear it when I warned her about the political risks and offered alternative solutions,” McCubbin stated. “She accused me of mansplaining, a woke term used by people who hate men, who ironically are her best demographic.”

McCubbin’s resignation was announced just two weeks after Mace and Trump sparred over the release of the Epstein Files, documents tied to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein died under suspicious circumstances while awaiting trial for allegedly sex trafficking minors during Trump’s first administration. While his death was officially ruled a suicide, speculation has persisted that Epstein was eliminated for knowing too much about the dozens of uber-powerful people who he is believed to have filmed having sex with children on his “Little Saint James” private island.

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RELATED | MACE TUSSLES WITH TRUMP OVER EPSTEIN

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While Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, the United States Department of Justice – under both the Democratic administration of Joe Biden and the Republican administration of Trump – has yet to bring criminal charges against any of the powerful individuals to whom the children were sex trafficked.

Trump later reversed course on the release of the Epstein documents, but it became clear those who initially opposed him – including Mace – were no longer in Trump’s good graces.

McCubbin’s resignation underscored that point.

“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,” he wrote. “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.”

According to McCubbin, the Palmetto State needs another governor like Henry McMaster who has “been very loyal to the President.”

“South Carolina needs someone cut from the same cloth, where you know their word is their bond,” he wrote. “My advice to the President, my friends in the White House, and South Carolina Trump voters: scratch her name from the list.”

Mace’s campaign was quick to respond to McCubbin’s resignation, telling FITSNews he failed to deliver on his promises and pitched a fit when he was told he would not be compensated.

“Mr. McCubbin didn’t raise a dime for the campaign or better yet, never even bothered showing up,” a Mace campaign spokeswoman told us. “When he demanded $10,000 a month for ‘services’ and was told no, he ran straight to X. Good luck with that.”

“Nancy Mace has stood with President Trump since Day ONE,” the spokesperson continued. “Mr. McCubbin said it himself: ‘Nancy Mace will be the most pro-Trump and America First Governor in the country.'”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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