GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — Nancy Mace — the first woman to graduate from The Citadel — became the second Republican primary challenger to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham Saturday.
In her 14-minute announcement speech here, she never mentioned Graham directly, but she notably name-dropped two potential 2016ers whose campaigns she seeks to emulate: Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
Not included in her repertoire: Marco Rubio.
“I look at some of the new leadership we have today. I look at Sen. Rand Paul. I look at Sen. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee,” she said to applause at the Berkeley County GOP breakfast. ”I look at the fresh faces, the new voices, this new leadership and I’m hopeful that we can actually turn things around.”
Mace is one of likely three challengers to Graham, but as a Charleston-area political consultant she has well-known ties to the Ron Paul faction of the party.
When I asked her about this week’s verbal smackdown between Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — which originally stemmed from opposing national security standpoints — Mace appeared to place herself in Rand’s camp.
“Look at how the South Carolina delegation voted on that,” she replied. ”I think that Sen. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Mike Lee .. . I think that the American people are looking for someone to join that leadership up there.”
Mace declined to tell me who she supported in the 2012 presidential primary, but it appears she may get help from Ron Paul in her own uphill endeavor.
It’s a bit early to gauge whether Paul or Cruz would weigh in against a sitting GOP colleague in a Senate primary, but that would appear unlikely.
If anti-establishment congressional challengers begin invoking Paul and Cruz more often than Rubio, it will be a leading indicator of where the energy has shifted in the party. Conversely, it’ll also confirm that Rubio is more likely to serve as the establishment’s pick come 2016 — which is not a bad place to be given the history of the GOP.
Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com
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