Charleston’s congressional race has now taken the form of a children’s book with Democrat Annie Andrews authoring a collection of snipes aimed at Republican incumbent Nancy Mace.
Titled “Nancy Said No!” the picture book questions why Mace, R-Isle of Palms, voted against the creation of the Jan. 6 commission, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and against codifying Roe v. Wade.
It is written from the perspective of a fictional 10-year-old child named Susie who is growing up in the coastal 1st Congressional District that Mace represents.
“Sometimes my grandma tells me stories about what it was like for girls when she was young,” the book reads. “I can’t believe girls didn’t always have the same rights as boys. I even heard that some of our leaders don’t even think girls are smart enough to make decisions about their own bodies.”
It goes on, “My Congresswoman had the chance to protect little girls like me by voting for the Women’s Health Protection Act. I don’t understand why, but NANCY SAID NO.”
South Carolina Democratic congressional candidate Annie Andrews has released a children’s book that goes after U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, her Republican opponent in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District race.
Each page ends with the same titular conclusion: Nancy said no.
The free e-book, which will be published on Andrews’ campaign website, could be the first campaign tactic of its kind this election cycle.
Mace’s campaign manager Austin McCubbin scoffed at the attempt at political mileage by the Andrews campaign.
“Nancy Mace is in Washington working on important issues like inflation and protecting women’s rights, and her opponent is writing children’s books in an attempt to smear her? Got it,” McCubbin said.
In midterm elections, the president’s party tends to lose power, but Democrats are trying to overcome that historic political pattern by galvanizing their voter-base on issues like abortion.
While Mace has said she supports returning abortion rights to the states, this summer she also cast one of the few Republican votes in favor of a bill to federally protect access to birth control.
Andrews, of Mount Pleasant, said the book, though delivered through the eyes of a child, is a fair portrayal of an adult’s political actions.
“Nancy Mace is the only mother in the district who has had tangible opportunities to create a safer, healthier life for Lowcountry kids and she chose not to,” Andrews said in a written statement shared first with The Post and Courier.
“Our kids are not alright and they deserve representatives in Congress who are going to tackle important issues instead of pandering to the most extreme voters in order to get on TV,” she added.
Andrews is pitching herself to voters as a candidate who will represent all Lowcountry families. Her campaign’s social media accounts seek to draw a contrast by tweeting near-daily criticisms of Mace’s legislative record.
The book concludes with a page that reads, “It doesn’t seem like Nancy Mace cares about me very much. When I grow up I hope I can help people more than she does.”
The cover features an illustration of Mace with a red megaphone and the word “no” scattered nearby in six places.
The book also takes aim at three other Republican candidates this election cycle in a series of fake “reviews” found at the end of the book. In one of the fictitious reviews, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green says “Good book. Needs more guns.”
Publishing a tongue-in-cheek children’s book is unique, but not a totally new idea in American politics.
In 2018, while running for a U.S. Senate seat in Indiana, Todd Rokita released a politically charged children’s book entitled “Oh, the places you’ll forget!” The book went after Luke Messer, who moved his family to the Washington, D.C., area after his election to Congress.
Rokita lost that GOP Senate primary, but so did Messer. Rokita is now the Attorney General of Indiana.
According to the most recent federal fundraising reports, Mace enters the general election contest against Andrews with a cash advantage and more than $1.1 million in her campaign account compared to Andrews’ $742,500.
The coastal congressional district is one of the few places in the state where South Carolina Democrats have been competitive in recent years, but that was before the latest decennial redistricting process made the seat slightly more Republican.
The general election is set for Nov. 8.
Reach Caitlin Byrd at 843-998-5404 and follow her on Twitter @MaryCaitlinByrd.
