Austin McCubbin, a senior consultant to Rep. Nancy Mace’s South Carolina gubernatorial campaign, resigned on Monday after accusing her of turning her back on the MAGA movement and embracing a Rand Paul-aligned political network. He said an alleged discussion about steering a seven‑figure donation to a Paul-linked PAC was the final trigger, a claim Mace’s team rejects while dismissing his role on the campaign.
Austin McCubbin, a longtime Republican operative with ties to former President Donald Trump’s political operation, announced on Monday that he was leaving Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) campaign for South Carolina governor.
In a sharp post on X, McCubbin said Mace had “decided to turn her back on MAGA” by “hug[ging] the political cactus that is the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing of the Party,” according to Politico and other outlets. He framed his move as a matter of loyalty to Trump, writing that he was “100% breaking with her campaign out of loyalty to the President.”
McCubbin has been described in Mace’s own campaign materials as a senior figure on her 2026 bid. A press release on Mace’s website earlier this year announced that Trump’s former South Carolina state director was joining her gubernatorial effort as one of its lead consultants, highlighting his role in Trump’s 2024 operations in the Palmetto State and his work on Mace’s earlier campaigns.
In his resignation statement, McCubbin alleged that Mace had become too closely aligned with the “Rand Paul + Thomas Massie” faction of the GOP. He claimed that Mace told him she was directing a personal friend to send a “7‑figure check” to Protect Freedom PAC, a committee aligned with Sen. Rand Paul, and argued that she was “wittingly or unwittingly a proxy for Rand Paul’s 2028 presidential campaign.” Politico reported that it has not independently verified McCubbin’s funding allegation, and no independent outlet has confirmed the existence of such a donation.
McCubbin also accused Mace of using his connections with Trump’s circle without compensating him as promised. “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,” he wrote, according to Politico and other reports.
He urged Trump and his supporters to distance themselves from Mace, advising “the President, my friends in the White House, and South Carolina Trump voters: scratch her name from the list.” McCubbin contrasted Mace with Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, calling McMaster a “great governor” who has been “very loyal” to Trump and arguing that South Carolina needs a leader “cut from the same cloth, where you know their word is their bond.”
Mace entered a crowded 2026 gubernatorial field earlier this year, and Trump’s endorsement is widely seen by political observers as a powerful asset in South Carolina politics. Since launching her campaign in August, Mace and other Republican hopefuls have actively sought Trump’s backing for the state’s top job.
Mace’s campaign forcefully pushed back on McCubbin’s account in statements to Politico and other outlets. A campaign spokesperson said, “Mr. McCubbin didn’t raise a dime for the campaign or better yet, never even bothered showing up. When he demanded $10,000 a month for ‘services’ and was told no, he ran straight to X. Good luck with that.” The spokesperson also insisted that “Nancy Mace has stood with President Trump since Day ONE,” pointing to McCubbin’s own earlier praise that “Nancy Mace will be the most pro-Trump and America First Governor in the country.”
The dispute underscores ongoing tensions inside the Republican Party over Trump’s influence and the growing friction between his loyalists and libertarian‑leaning Republicans aligned with Paul and Massie. With the 2026 governor’s race approaching and Trump’s endorsement still highly prized, McCubbin’s public break with Mace highlights how intraparty divisions are shaping early maneuvering in South Carolina.
