Nancy Mace flip-flops on George Santos, decrying vote to expel him despite being among the first lawmakers to call for his resignation

• Rep. Nancy Mace criticized the expulsion of George Santos, saying it's about "power."
• But months ago, the congresswoman who among the few lawmakers calling on him to resign.

In January, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina made a big show of calling for Rep. George Santos to resign.

"I'm not gonna have anything to do with somebody that can't be trusted, and clearly defrauded the voters of New York," Mace told Business Insider in January. "He literally pulled the wool over everybody's eyes."

It probably won't surprise you to learn that Mace voted against expelling the New York Republican on Friday — and that she criticized the vote in harsh terms.

"George Santos is an ass, who, like every other American, deserves the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law. Charges are not a conviction," she said in a statement. "Today's vote was not about accountability, which should have been in the hands of the courts and the people of NY-03. This was about shifting the balance of power in Congress, and I won't play those games."

Over the course of her nearly three years in Congress, Mace has definitely a reputation for flip-flopping.

Earlier this year, the congresswoman called an anti-abortion amendment to the annual defense authorization bill an "asshole move" — only to vote for it anyway.

She has also changed her position a number of times on former President Donald Trump, declaring in the wake of the January 6 assault on the Capitol that the party must move on from him.

But these days, she's reportedly musing about being his vice-presidential pick.

It's a habit that both her colleagues and political rivals have taken note of.

"I think [voters] look at Nancy Mace and believe that she is probably more motivated to get on national TV and create headlines for herself than to actually work for the people," Michael B. Moore, a Democrat running against her in 2024, told Business Insider in October.