Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina found herself at the center of controversy following a now-viral video capturing a profane exchange with a constituent inside a makeup store.
The incident unfolded at an Ulta Beauty location, where a seemingly routine encounter quickly escalated into a bitter dispute that drew strong reactions from both supporters and critics.
The confrontation began when Ely Murray-Quick, a local realtor from Charleston, recognized Mace while shopping and decided to question her about her future town hall events. According to Murray-Quick, he asked a simple and polite question: “When are your next few town halls?”
This inquiry, he says, was motivated by Nancy Mace’s decision to skip a previously scheduled town hall, citing safety concerns. What followed was an unexpected tirade that shocked onlookers and ignited a media storm.
From Simple Question to Fiery Outburst
Nancy Mace’s reaction to the question was swift and intense. Rather than answering directly, she immediately pivoted to her legislative record, claiming, “I voted for gay marriage,” a statement that Murray-Quick criticized as unrelated to the topic at hand. He argued that one progressive vote does not make up for what he sees as a broader harmful pattern in her political behavior, particularly toward the LGBTQ+ community.
The confrontation escalated quickly as Mace began raising her voice, accusing Murray-Quick of harassment and calling him “crazy.” She dismissed him as a “left-wing extremist” and accused Democrats broadly of being “nuts.”
In the two-minute clip she later posted on her social media account, Mace can be heard saying, “You people on the left are crazy. You’re absolutely f***ing crazy. And get out of my face.” Her final words to the constituent as he walked away were, “You couldn’t take me on baby. Stay the f***ing away from me.”
Murray-Quick responded with visible frustration, telling Nancy Mace she was a disgrace and predicting that voters would soon remove her from office. In a separate video posted to his own Facebook account, he emphasized that his question was asked respectfully and reiterated his concern about her accessibility and accountability to constituents.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace told a constituent “fuck you” after asking if she will do a town hall this year pic.twitter.com/brw3f1qvAE
— Noelia Belén Izarza 🇻🇪🇺🇸 (@myteks) April 20, 2025
He also shared that a woman at the store criticized him for his tone, especially after he referred to Mace using a vulgar term. Murray-Quick responded by saying that Mace had used the same term against him first.
The Fallout and Political Ramifications
Following the incident, Nancy Mace posted the video clip on her congressional X (formerly Twitter) account with a caption that criticized Murray-Quick’s appearance and described him as an “unhinged lunatic.” She took issue with the fact that he was “a man, wearing daisy dukes, at a makeup store” and used it as further justification for her outburst. The post went viral, prompting a wave of comments ranging from support to outrage.
Some Republican allies, including Georgia Representative Mike Collins, defended Mace’s reaction, with Collins quipping, “He got his own 1v1 town hall.” Others mocked the constituent’s appearance or expressed concern about “men in women’s spaces.” Mace herself replied to one such comment with, “For real,” further fueling the controversy.
Critics, however, were quick to call out what they perceived as unprofessional and unbecoming behavior from an elected official. “This is how a United States Congresswoman behaves?” one commenter wrote.
Others accused her of overreacting to a simple question and using the encounter as an opportunity to score political points rather than engage meaningfully with a concerned voter.
Mace’s communications director, Sydney Long, issued a statement doubling down on Mace’s position. Long claimed that being a public official does not make someone fair game for harassment and accused Murray-Quick of invading Mace’s personal space. “Justifying this kind of behavior is not only unacceptable, it’s dangerous,” she said in a message to The Independent.
A Pattern of Political Drama
This is not the first time Nancy Mace has been at the center of controversy. Her political career, while marked by occasional bipartisan votes like her support for same-sex marriage legislation, has also been punctuated by a series of personal and political disputes that have drawn public attention.
Earlier this year, Mace made headlines for a heated floor speech in Congress where she accused her former fiancé, businessman Patrick Bryant, and three other men of sexual misconduct without providing evidence.
One of the accused has since filed a defamation lawsuit. The accusations followed the end of her engagement to Bryant in 2023, which Mace claimed ended after discovering he was active on a dating app.
Murray-Quick highlighted these personal controversies in his statement, arguing that Mace’s conduct—both public and private—reflects a troubling pattern of instability. “It’s hard not to notice the pattern in her personal life: failed relationships, messy entanglements, and a string of self-serving decisions that speak volumes about her judgment,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Mace has been under fire for failing to maintain a consistent and transparent schedule of town halls. Her first town hall of 2025 took place on April 8, conducted over the phone without prior public notice.
Critics argue that such limited and inaccessible events fall short of the standards of open government. Mace has claimed that some events had to be canceled due to threats and unsafe conditions allegedly organized by “left-wing extremists.”
A day before the viral Ulta incident, she tweeted about “deranged town hall fakers” who had been pressuring her office, insisting that she would not be intimidated. This narrative appears to have set the tone for her defensive posture during the confrontation.
In the eyes of her detractors, this pattern of avoiding public forums and reacting combatively to questions only underscores their concerns about her willingness to engage in genuine dialogue with constituents. To her supporters, however, her refusal to back down in public confrontations is a sign of strength in the face of what they view as unfair attacks.
The incident has become a flashpoint in the broader debate about how politicians should engage with the public. It raises questions about the boundaries of personal space versus public accountability, the role of decorum in political discourse, and the pressures faced by public officials in the digital age.
In a political environment where cameras are always rolling and every interaction can become viral content, the responsibilities of both elected officials and constituents are under intense scrutiny.
The Ulta exchange serves as a cautionary tale about the fragile line between transparency and confrontation, and the very human reactions that can emerge in unexpected places—even in the makeup aisle.