Mace to Colleague: 'If You Want to Take It Outside...'

Things got heated Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee gathering, with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace issuing an unusual challenge to one of her Democratic colleagues. Per Mediaite, the verbal spat between Mace and Jasmine Crockett "went off the rails" during a vote to ban trans athletes from women's sports at federally funded institutions. Mace—who has attracted attention in recent months for trying to keep trans women out of women's restrooms at the US Capitol—became the target of Crockett's ire at one point, with Crockett noting that "somebody's campaign coffers are struggling right now, so she's going to keep saying 'trans trans trans.'"

Crockett then added, seemingly to Mace, "Chile, listen," using what the Washington Post describes as "an African American Vernacular English term and predominantly Southern variation of the word 'child' often used to refer to children or express disbelief, shock, or disapproval." Mace took offense to that term and delivered her challenge. "I am no child! Do not call me a child," she retorted. "I am a grown woman." She then added: "If you want to take it outside..." GOP committee chair James Comer eventually got things under control, and he ruled that Mace's remarks didn't break panel rules, as he interpreted them to mean "you could go outside and have a cup of coffee or have a cup of beer."

Crockett wrote about the incident later that day on X, calling Mace "an attention seeking loser who clearly has some fundraising goals to hit." She added: "Last I checked, threatening members in a committee room doesn't exactly reduce the cost of eggs." Mace tried to clear up her own intentions a short time later online. "Let me be clear: I wanted to take the conversation off the floor to have a more constructive conversation, not to fight," she wrote on X. "At no point was there any intention of causing harm to anyone." She added, "I will not be bullied into submission, I will not be called names by my colleagues like I was today, I will not be belittled, or invalidated." (More Nancy Mace stories.)