'Technical difficulties': Nancy Mace's hurricane response veers way off course

Rep. Nancy Mace's response to Hurricane Helene raised eyebrows Monday when an apparent technical glitch sent a mixed-message email to the press.

Business Insider reporter Bryan Metzger flagged on X a message from the South Carolina Republican's House communications team that promised a comment on the storm and delivered something quite different.

"Some technical difficulties over at Rep. Nancy Mace's office," he wrote.

While the email subject read, "Rep. Nancy Mace statement on Hurricane Helene," the body of the email contained something quite different — information about proposed legislation targeting gender-affirming care, rather than the deadly storm that has claimed at least 30 lives in South Carolina alone.

"Congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced the 'Childhood Genital Mutilation Prevention Act,' a bill designed to protect our children from irreversible procedures with devastating and permanent consequences to their health and wellbeing," the email reads.

This language corresponds with an online press release dated Monday that would fine — and imprison — doctors for providing medical treatment to trans youth.

“Our children are not guinea pigs in the radical left’s dangerous social experimentation,” said Mace. “The genital mutilation of young bodies under the guise of progressivism is sick and protecting our children means saying no to this lunacy.”

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A press release dated Sept. 26 provides her comment on Hurricane Helene.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and working with local officials to ensure resources are available to those in need," Mace's statement reads. "We urge everyone to take the necessary precautions, stay informed through local alerts, and prioritize safety during this time."

Mace's email glitch spurred dark humor on social media as readers digested the news that the South Carolina Republican was pushing anti-trans legislation as storm clean-up continued in her state — sometimes with fatal results.

"Messaging discipline," replied political commentator Andrés Pertierra.

Former Daily Beast reporter Justin Baragona pointed his followers to reports that Mace's D.C. office experienced "total staff turnover" in February as former employees quit en masse and complained of her abusive behavior and publicity hungry attitude.

"It might be a good time to re-up my former colleague [Reese Gorman]'s story on the total staff turnover in Nancy Mace's office because of the 'toxic' culture perpetuated by their 'delusional' boss," he wrote.