Charleston Airport takes some blame in Mace incident, says she made it a spectacle
The Charleston International Airport Police took blame for a miscommunication that led to a U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace tirade, but also pointed the finger at Republican hopeful for South Carolina governor for making the incident into a spectacle.
The airport on Monday released results of an internal investigation and security footage from Oct. 30 of Mace’s arrival at the airport and interaction with airport police from her October tirade when she wasn’t met by a police to provide the security escort she was expecting.
In the report, an airport police supervisor says he gave officers waiting for Mace the wrong vehicle color. The officers were told a white BMW, but Mace arrived in a silver vehicle.
However, the report of an internal investigation, which included interviews with nine people including TSA employees, details Mace’s behavior, which included curse words directed at police officers.
“While it is clear that we hold a certain level of responsibility in miscommunicating the color of Congresswoman Mace’s vehicle, it’s also equally clear that her continued failure to follow established procedures at the checkpoint is what turned a minor miscommunication over the color of a vehicle into the spectacle that this issue has become for our employees and airport workers,” Police Chief James A. Woods writes in his report submitted Nov. 12.
The documents were part of response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Mace. The airport’s response also was released to The State newspaper, which filed its own FOIA request.
In the report, airport police also details an incident in April when Mace was traveling with a family member, but was informed the family member would have to go through standard screening. After that encounter, TSA began allowing a limited amount of family and staff to accompany her through screening process.
Mace, a Republican candidate for governor, called the initial release of the details of her October tirade a political hit job.
After the details of Mace’s tirade were reported in the news media, the Republican hopeful for governor threatened to sue the airport leadership, airport police, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and the American Airlines gate agent.
In a call with reporters last week, Mace said she had yet to make a final decision on whether to file a lawsuit.
Mace was upset police did not meet her at her vehicle when she was dropped off at the airport to escort her through security and to the gate for her flight to Chicago before eventually flying to Las Vegas. Airport police officers said in their report Mace used profanity at times for others to hear.
The airport has now since changed its policy saying it will no longer provide direct escorts for dignitaries, such as members of Congress. The police escorts were a courtesy. Instead, the airport police will be present when notified by TSA of a dignitary traveling through the airport.
The incident also led to a bipartisan group of more than 60 elected officials to sign onto a letter supporting the airport and its law enforcement. The letter was circulated by political consultant Wesley Donehue, who previously worked for Mace. Donehue’s former firm Push Digital has done also previously did campaign work for Charleston Airport President and CEO Elliott Summey, when Summey was on the Charleston County Council, S.C. Ethics Commission records show.
The incident may have hurt Mace in polls measuring the support of candidates for governor.
In a poll by Wick of 600 likely GOP primary voters, Mace was in fourth place with 10.5% of support. Previous polling made public earlier this year had her support in the 20s.
Mace didn’t see expected security when she arrived at airport
When Mace arrived at the airport on Oct. 30, she initially waited with the car that dropped her off before walking through the ticketing area to the TSA checkpoint. She then waits at the known crew member entrance waiting for someone to escort her to her gate.
Mace demanded a TSA employee escort her to the gate and pointed to an employee sitting at a TSA desk, Woods writes in his report. She was told the employee was an explosives detection expert and not suppose to conduct an escort. The TSA employee also said she removed herself from the situation because of Mace’s tone.
“The tone and the disrespect. She was already yelling and screaming in her phone when I walked up. Not knowing what was going on outside of here — a lot of people come in that we don’t know what they dealt with coming in. So I try not to assume anything. But her — the rudeness and disrespect with us — I’m not touching that no more,” the TSA supervisor said in her interview with Charleston Airport police.
TSA, which did not know Mace was coming through the airport that day, called Charleston Airport police to alert them that Mace was at the known crew member checkpoint.
After police arrived to escort Mace through the security checkpoint for known crew members, TSA officers did not require her to walk through a metal detector or put her bags through an X-ray machine.
Mace has previously said the crew member checkpoint is where she has traditionally passed through when going through the Charleston Airport.
“The Congresswoman told the supervisor that she ‘wasn’t going through your TSA line, you need to go and get whoever, because I’m not going through your TSA line,’” Woods writes in his report.
Phone calls to Mace’s congressional office or her campaign were not immediately returned on Monday, but a spokesperson for Mace later sent a text message with a statement.
“We appreciate this full exoneration and look forward to remaining fully focused on the issues that actually matter to South Carolinians: affordability and law and order,” the spokesperson said.
The two airport police officers also were interviewed in the internal investigation and detailed other issues with providing security for Mace.
“They also stated that she’s rarely on time and that this is often exacerbated by the fact that their communication is often relayed through multiple staffers, as the Congresswoman appears to have high personnel turnover,” Woods said.
“They also recounted that there were ’countless’ times when the Congresswoman was not where she said that she would be. Her staff would tell them that she’d be driving herself, and she’d show up curbside in someone else’s vehicle, or vice versa. She would provide an arrival time and be an hour early, in another example,” Woods wrote.
Police also said they asked Mace’s security staff to forward information about threats she was received to help provide security.
“This information was never provided,” Woods wrote.
Also, Mace’s used the signal app to communicate with officers, however, messages automatically delete, Woods wrote.
“The officer stated that this causes his phone to alert in a different way than a telephone call would and as such, he missed the alert because his phone was not directly with him at the time. No other protectee insists on the usage of this app to communicate,” Woods wrote.
The airport police chief also wrote Mace’s arrival at the center atrium crosswalk was never communicated as her dropoff point.
“Additionally, the Congresswoman ignored her instructions to wait in her vehicle for officers to arrive. If it was believed that there were no officers present for the escort, waiting for them to arrive would have avoided any risk of her walking alone from her vehicle to the security checkpoint,” Woods wrote.
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 3:48 PM.
