Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, got into a heated exchange at a House hearing Tuesday that culminated with Mace challenging Crockett by asking whether she wanted to “take it outside.”
The war of words came during a discussion of civil rights and transgender rights, with Crockett calling for re-establishing a subcommittee on civil rights and criticizing Mace’s rhetoric about transgender people.
“I can see that somebody’s campaign coffers really are struggling right now. So [Mace] is gonna keep saying ‘trans, trans, trans, trans’ so that people will feel threatened, and child, listen —” Crockett said.
“I am no child, do not call me a child, I am no child,” Mace interjected, prompting committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., to unsuccessfully call for order.
“If you want to take it outside, we can do that,” Mace said, addressing Crockett.
Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., tried to defend Crockett, saying Mace had incited violence against her.
After some discussion, Comer ruled that Mace’s remark had not been a call to violence, saying she could have been asking Crockett to go outside to “have a cup of coffee or perhaps a beer.”
Spokespeople for Mace and Crockett did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
The two took to X, however, to defend themselves.
Mace posted about the incident upward of a dozen times, acknowledging that she went “off” on Crockett but saying her call to go outside was not intended to mean she wanted to fight.
“Let me be clear: I wanted to take the conversation off the floor to have a more constructive conversation, not to fight. At no point was there any intention of causing harm to anyone,” she wrote in one post.
Crockett said on X that she had been threatened, and she called Mace “an attention seeking loser.”
“Last I checked, threatening members in a committee room doesn’t exactly reduce the cost of eggs,” she wrote.
Mace in recent months has become known for her actions toward transgender people. Following the election of the first openly transgender member of Congress, Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del. , Mace introduced a measure banning transgender women from female bathrooms on Capitol Hill. Mace later said the resolution was “absolutely” meant to target McBride, and she has since visited her district to speak to the state’s Republican Party about the measure.
The House Oversight Committee room where Tuesday’s exchange took place was also the site of a meeting last year that devolved into chaos amid personal insults. In May, a hearing imploded after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., responded to a question from Crockett by saying, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
When Comer ruled that Greene’s words had not violated the committee’s rules, Crockett asked: “I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blond, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”
