Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina drew national attention on Tuesday after displaying nude photo of herself during a House subcommittee hearing focused on cybersecurity and personal privacy.
Mace said the photos were taken without her consent and used the moment to call for stronger protections against hidden surveillance and sexual exploitation.
Speaking before the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Mace condemned the use of secret cameras as a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights.
“Liberty begins with the right to close a door. A hidden camera kicks that door off its hinges,” she said. “The Constitution’s Fourth Amendment enshrines a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy.’ Yet today, that freedom is violated by secret cameras and hidden devices to record women and girls with impunity.”
Today I exposed a monster whose victims deserve justice. The victims also deserve stronger federal and state laws to protect them.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) May 20, 2025
To other potential victims, I want you to know, “I have your back.”
I would run through a brick wall to protect women and girls in South Carolina.… pic.twitter.com/RjcsXDz7pr
She continued, “Freedom is not a theory; it is the right to breathe, to dress and undress, to sleep without someone’s camera filming your naked body. The Founders wrote liberty in parchment; hidden cameras erase it in pixels.”
Mace’s remarks came amid an ongoing legal dispute with her ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant, whom she has accused of secretly recording her and other women without their knowledge or consent.
She claims that some of the victims were drugged and sexually assaulted. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has confirmed that Bryant is under investigation, according to Live 5 News.
Mace introduced two bills in February in response to her experience: the Stop VOYEURS Act (H.R. 1203) and the Sue VOYEURS Act (H.R. 1204). Both aim to strengthen legal recourse for victims of nonconsensual surveillance and imagery.
In emotional testimony earlier this year, Mace described uncovering disturbing evidence in late 2023 that implicated Bryant and others in the exploitation of women and girls. “I am living proof that even as a Member of Congress, I found myself face-to-face with the darkest corners of humanity,” she said. “In November of 2023, I accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable.”
Mace and Bryant became engaged in May 2022 but ended their relationship in late 2023.
Bryant has strongly denied the allegations. In a statement to local outlet FIST News, he said: “I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace. I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false—they are malicious and deeply personal.”
As investigations continue, Mace is using her platform to press for legislative change, arguing that existing laws fail to protect victims of voyeurism and digital exploitation in an increasingly tech-driven world.