Rep. Nancy Mace wore a sling on her arm Wednesday at the Capitol after saying she was “accosted” on campus the previous night, though foster youth advocates disputed her account.
“I was physically accosted tonight on Capitol grounds over my fight to protect women. Capitol police have arrested him,” Mace wrote on X Tuesday, suggesting she was targeted because she has crusaded against transgender people.
A spokesperson for Mace said the congresswoman has pain in her back, arm and wrist. But some eyewitnesses have contested her narrative, claiming they saw a “normal handshake,” as first reported by The Imprint, a nonprofit publication that covers child welfare.
James McIntyre, 33, of Illinois, was arrested Tuesday night, police said. He pleaded not guilty to an assault charge in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday.
According to other attendees, McIntyre was at the Rayburn House Office Building for an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of legislation that supports youth who are aging out of foster care.
In addition to advocates, the event was attended by members of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, of which Mace is a co-chair.
Elliott Hinkle, a foster advocate who was in attendance, said McIntyre approached Mace after she finished delivering remarks.
“My colleague James met her by one of the doors to walk up to her and shake her hand and said, ‘trans youth are foster youth, they need your support.’ And then he went and sat back down,” Hinkle said.
Hinkle saw no aggression in the shake. But shortly after Mace left, her staffer came back to ask McIntyre’s name. And about five minutes after that, officers responded looking for McIntyre.
Capitol Police said they were notified of an incident just before 6 p.m. Another attendee, Keri Hope Richmond, said the event was then shut down as police tried to locate McIntyre, who had left the room.
“It’s just really sad because now it takes away from the whole celebration,” Richmond said.
According to a police affidavit, Mace, who went to the Capitol Hill Club following the incident, said McIntyre clasped her hand in both of his and began to shake her arm up and down “aggressively and in an exaggerated manner.” Mace told police that she tried to pull her hand away but was held in place by McIntyre. She was favoring her right arm when police located her, according to the affidavit.
The incident comes after Mace has spent the last several weeks targeting transgender rights. Calling for trans women to be banned from women’s bathrooms at the Capitol, she has posted repeatedly about the issue on social media since the election of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first openly trans member of Congress. Mace introduced legislation that would have tasked the House sergeant-at-arms with enforcing a transgender bathroom ban. McBride, for her part, has said she never planned on using multi-stall bathrooms at the Capitol.
Speaker Mike Johnson backed Mace’s push in late November, announcing that “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.” He did not specify how he would enforce the policy.
Last week, roughly a dozen protesters — including WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning — were arrested in a bathroom sit-in in the Cannon Building, outside Johnson’s personal office.
They held signs that read, “Flush Bathroom Bigotry” and “Congress Stop Pissing on Our Rights!” and chanted “Speaker Johnson, Nancy Mace, our bodies are no debate.”
Asked about the eyewitness accounts from Tuesday contradicting Mace, Gabrielle Lipsky, a spokesperson for Mace, said, “It’s the usual suspects in the media, propping up misogyny on the Left from activists chasing 15 minutes of fame.”
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