Nancy Mace

Three men U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace named as "predators" in a 2025 House floor speech — financier John Douglas Osborne, her ex-fiancé Brendan Patrick Bryant, and former soccer club owner Eric Bernard Bowman — were arrested Oct. 14 in connection with the alleged 2018 sexual assault of an intoxicated woman on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. Osborne faces assault and criminal sexual conduct charges; Bryant is charged with voyeurism; Bowman is accused of voyeurism, obstructing justice and naming a sexual assault victim.

A fourth man Mace publicly branded a predator, Brian Musgrave, will not be charged. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wrote to the State Law Enforcement Division that "not a scintilla of evidence" supports Mace's allegations against him, warning her credibility would be undermined if called as a trial witness. Two other prosecutors who reviewed the probe similarly called her claims baseless. A federal judge dismissed Musgrave's defamation suit against Mace in August 2025, citing congressional immunity under the Westfall Act. Musgrave's attorney says Mace has never apologized.

Following the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 11, Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham's sister, Darline, to fill the remainder of his term, with a special election expected to determine who holds the seat long-term. Darline Graham has kept a low public profile since being sworn in, while Democratic physician Annie Andrews has been actively campaigning across the traditionally Republican state.

South Carolina is deeply red, and GOP figures including Katon Dawson and Nancy Mace loom over the race's dynamics, with national Republicans expected to coalesce around a chosen successor. Democrats, who have struggled statewide despite past efforts from figures like Jaime Harrison, see an opening given the unusual circumstances of the vacancy and Andrews's visible campaign presence. The race is being watched as a test of whether shifting demographics and health care-focused messaging could make an otherwise safe Republican seat competitive, with implications for the Senate's partisan balance.

Iowa state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democratic candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, criticized Congress and the Department of Justice for inaction on investigating Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. She spoke after visiting a traveling "reading room" exhibit at The Loft DSM, staged by the Institute for Primary Facts and DEFIANCE.org, featuring excerpts from DOJ-released Epstein investigation documents. She met with family members of Virginia Giuffre and self-identified Epstein victim Sharlene Rochard.

Trone Garriott criticized incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn for not signing Rep. Thomas Massie's discharge petition, which would let state attorneys general, victims and members of Congress sue the DOJ over withheld documents; only three other Republicans have signed it. Nunn's campaign countered that he voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act and accused Trone Garriott of skipping Iowa Senate votes on sex-offender sentencing. Giuffre's brother, Scott Roberts, thanked Trone Garriott for hearing survivors' stories and called for congressional leaders willing to hold powerful figures accountable.

Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three young children in January 2023, has drawn renewed national attention after a Plymouth Superior Court judge declared a mistrial earlier this month when jurors failed for a third time to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors alleged Clancy deliberately planned the killings of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, while her defense argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

The case has since become a flashpoint in national political discourse. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told TMZ that Clancy should face a "public execution," calling her a "serial killer" who deserves the death penalty. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, separately said the case had become a "cause celebre" tied to what he called "racial politics" and ideology around policing and immigration enforcement. Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, condemned Cruz's remarks as "despicable" and accused him of misunderstanding postpartum psychosis. President Trump called the case a "very sad situation" and noted any pardon request would be a state, not federal, matter.

Michigan's Senate contest between Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has become a test of how much religious identity shapes voter behavior heading into the 2026 midterms. El-Sayed, a Muslim epidemiologist, has faced attacks invoking his faith, including comments from Rep. Nancy Mace calling Muslim officeholders a "trojan horse" and President Trump's unsubstantiated claim that El-Sayed "hates Jews." Rogers has run ads tying Democrats to voter disillusionment and linked El-Sayed to remarks made by others about 9/11.

Commentators have drawn comparisons to anti-Catholic bias faced by John F. Kennedy in 1960, with Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Debbie Dingell framing the race as a broader referendum on democracy versus authoritarianism rather than religion. The race also follows a pattern seen in a Michigan House primary, where a Trump-endorsed Christian candidate with an Arabic name underperformed among Republican primary voters. The outcome could signal whether economic and foreign-policy discontent with the Trump administration outweighs identity-based appeals for Michigan voters this cycle.

South Carolina Republicans returned to the polls Tuesday to pick a nominee for the Senate seat long held by the late Lindsey Graham, who died in July after winning renomination in June. Sen. Darline Graham, appointed to fill her brother's term and backed by President Trump and Sen. Tim Scott, faced Rep. Ralph Norman in a runoff after neither cleared a majority in the Aug. 11 primary; third-place finisher Rep. Russell Fry endorsed Graham. The winner faces Democrat Annie Andrews in the fall.

In Georgia's 13th Congressional District near Atlanta, Democrats Everton Blair and Marcye Scott, daughter of late Rep. David Scott, competed in a runoff to serve the remainder of Scott's term after topping a five-candidate field in July. Neither is seeking the full term beginning in 2027; that contest will pit Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Clark against Republican Jonathan Chavez in November. Both races drew attention as tests of turnout and party strength ahead of the 2026 midterms, now 70 days off.