Nancy Mace Leans Into the Beans Meme After Primary Shellacking

When you lose badly enough, you might as well laugh about it—and Congresswoman Nancy Mace just proved she knows how to take a joke. After finishing fifth in South Carolina’s gubernatorial primary on Tuesday with just 12% of the vote, Mace posted a photo of a heaping bowl of baked beans on social media, joking that she’d drown her sorrows in legumes instead of ice cream.

The move is a masterclass in self-aware humor, especially considering the beans themselves became her unlikely mascot back in 2024. A birthday dinner photo featuring her BBQ spread—complete with a generous helping of baked beans—went viral, prompting internet users to descend with predictable brutality. One legendary comment:“That’s a lot of beans, you nasty ass bitch.”Another joked the bathroom was officially all hers. Most politicians would’ve tried to make it disappear. Mace apparently decided to embrace it.

The timing is notable. While Mace ended up far behind Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson in the primary, she’s maintained her sense of humor about the whole thing. She’s blamed the Epstein files push—her effort to publicize the released documents—for costing her Trump’s support, but says she has no regrets about her congressional work. That kind of defiance paired with self-deprecating comedy suggests she’s not going quietly.

There’s something refreshing about a politician who can get publicly roasted and then voluntarily resurrect the meme themselves. In an era of carefully managed images and damage control, leaning into the absurdity—and owning a running joke that started two years ago—shows a willingness to not take herself too seriously. Whether it wins back supporters or just wins over people who appreciate the bit, it’s a move that lands.