Exclusive: Nancy Mace and her fiancé call it QUITS

For Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, it seemed like a match made in heaven.

The 46-year-old mother-of-two was stunned in May 2022 when her entrepreneur boyfriend Patrick Bryant got down on one knee and asked if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

But less than 18 months since that heartwarming proposal, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal that the couple have broken up and are now in the middle of a messy legal fight over multi-million-dollar homes they bought together.

According to four sources, the South Carolina lawmaker – who was one of the eight to vote former Speaker Kevin McCarthy out in a historic vote – split with Charleston software mogul Bryant last month.

Since they parted ways, their rift has deteriorated, and now they are fighting over a $3.9 million beachfront property with six bedrooms and a pool and a $1.3 million Washington, D.C., home they both have equity in.

‘I’m not Taylor Swift. No one gives a damn about my relationship status,’ Mace said in response to DailyMail.com’s questions about the dispute.  

Public records suggest neither Mace or Bryant have filed a lawsuit, though three sources familiar with the situation say Mace is expected to take legal action over the homes.

It comes just days after Mace faced an exodus from her office on Capitol Hill. Six staffers resigned and claimed she runs a ‘toxic’ office.

The former couple, both Charleston-area socialites, got engaged in 2022 after two years of dating.

One of the most colorful members of the House since her 2020 election, Mace sparred with the former president, prompting an all-out MAGA war against her before aligning herself with Trump this cycle and reportedly eyeing his running mate spot.

She set herself apart from her colleagues with antics like wearing a jacket that read: ‘My state is Banning EXCEPTIONS Protect CONTRACEPTION’ and after voting to oust  McCarthy, donning a shirt with a scarlet ‘A’ on it. She’s since become a fixture on cable news.

Two sources familiar said Mace has claimed she found Bryant on a dating app when they were still together, prompting their split. 

Bryant told DailyMail.com he had not been active on a dating app since before he and Nancy met, but recently re-downloaded the app long enough to delete an old profile that was still showing up. 

‘The status of our relationship is no one’s business,’ he added. ‘We have more important things to focus on as a country.’ 

Bryant is the co-founder of software development firm Code/+/Trust. He’s served on a number of local boards including as chairman of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. 

While dating Bryant, Mace often openly discussed her sex life in the office, including in front of male junior staffers, according to three sources who recalled such comments in graphic detail to DailyMail.com.

‘She frequently made sexual references in the office and discussed things that were not appropriate in a work environment,’ one former senior staffer said. 

If one of her staff members were to officially complain about her conduct, she could be subjected to an ethics investigation. 

Trouble on the home front comes as Mace lost three more staffers this week. 

Days ago, the congresswoman fired her chief of staff Dan Hanlon, then her deputy chief of staff, Richard Chalkey, and legislative director, Randal Meyer, resigned, as first reported by the Washington Examiner. Three other junior staffers have left in recent months.

Mace blamed her frisky fiancé for being late to a prayer breakfast this summer, joking about pre-marital sex in a religious faux pas.

The 45-year-old congresswoman said she had woken up at 7 a.m. and only had 45 minutes to get ready for the annual event, which brought together South Carolina lawmakers and took place on Capitol Hill.

‘Patrick, my fiancé, tried to pull me by my waist over this morning in bed,’ Mace told the crowd. ‘And I was like, ‘No, baby we don’t got time for that this morning, I’ve got to get to the prayer breakfast, and I’ve gotta be on time,” she recalled.

Receiving some chuckles from the audience, she noted she was being a ‘little TMI.’

‘He can wait!’ Mace said laughing. ‘I’ll see him later tonight.’

Mace in the past has been described as a ‘rising star’ among Republican women. A frequent face in media by her own design, she’s been invited to deliver keynote addresses at swanky Washington events and fundraisers like last year’s Washington Press Club’s Congressional Dinner. 

While moderate on social issues – she stood up for birth control access and finding a ‘middle ground’ on abortion – she’s swung to the right on spending and Oversight Committee work and led the charge against Hunter Biden.

She’s frequently threatened to break rank and vote against GOP leadership’s legislation before falling in line shortly before the vote.

But the self-described ‘caucus of one’ has few friends on Capitol Hill, especially since voting to oust McCarthy. 

Since growing to mistrust her chief of staff and ultimately firing him, the staffers she once relied upon to drive policy and get her on national television have since abandoned her. 

One source familiar with the situation insisted to DailyMail.com that Mace and her former chief Hanlon’s relationship took a turn for the worst after McCarthy called Hanlon out in a momentous final press conference as speaker. 

McCarthy called Mace’s chief when he realized she would vote to oust him, claiming he had not kept his word to her. 

‘So, I call her chief of staff … I said, ‘Can you please tell me, I don’t understand? Where have I not kept my word?’ McCarthy explained. ‘Chief of staff said, ‘You have kept your word 100%.”

‘She didn’t understand that things don’t necessarily operate very quickly in the House,’ the source said of Mace. 

‘I bite my lip,’ McCarthy added. ‘I let people say things that are not true. But it’s not right. It is not right. Her chief of staff told all of us we have kept every single one of our words. And he said he’s told her that, too.’ 

The night that McCarthy made the remark, Mace and her chief went to a see-and-be-seen bar on Capitol Hill, Bullfeathers, together in a show that they weren’t letting the ousted speaker come between them. But the source said that night was when Mace began to ‘ice [Hanlon] out’ and became ‘mistrusting’ of him. 

They said Mace’s office essentially set her policy agenda since she was focused on media attention. 

‘Everything started with media attention,’ the source said. ‘We were free to drive the legislative agenda. She was pretty hands off in the process, which is pretty cool for a staffer. She was more focused on getting on Fox News.’ 

Mace is twice-divorced and has two children with her second husband.

Bryant surprised the congresswoman in May 2022, by tricking her into thinking she was doing door-knocking for her congressional campaign and filming it to be used in a future political advertisement.

Instead she opened a door and Bryant appeared.

‘I literally thought I was shooting b-roll, and I’m not!’ Mace said.

She told Bryant yes.

Her good fortune continued through 2022.

In June, she survived a tough primary after getting on the bad side of former President Donald Trump.

Mace had voted to certify the 2020 election and criticized Trump in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol attack, however she did not vote to impeach the ex-president over his role in the ‘insurrection.’

She beat the Trump-backed challenger Katie Arrington by around 8 points.

Mace went on to win the general election in November against Democrat Annie Andrews by 14 points.