CHARLESTON, S.C. — Escalating her criticism of U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace's focus on cannabis reform, Republican Katie Arrington said Friday that her opponent in the 1st Congressional District should not only take a drug test but make the results public, insinuating that Mace may have been "high" while representing South Carolina in Congress.
"While residents of the Lowcountry continue to be crushed by skyrocketing inflation and record high gas prices, Nancy Mace opted to spend 4/20 at a pot conference in Miami rather than with her constituents," Arrington said in a statement issued through her campaign Friday afternoon, citing Mace's attendance at the two-day Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference this week.
Arrington then pointed to a recent Huffington Post article, where Mace was asked whether or not she still used marijuana. According to the news report, Mace "grinned but declined to answer."
"I'm just going to smile," Mace told the national news outlet with a chuckle.
A request for comment was not immediately returned by the Mace campaign Friday afternoon.
Arrington, a former state lawmaker who most recently worked for the Department of Defense, is one of two Republicans challenging Mace for the Lowcountry's seat in Congress.
But Arrington has emerged as Mace's toughest rival in the Republican primary contest for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Arrington in the race in February and sought to boost her candidacy at a rally in Florence last month, even though Mace worked on his 2016 presidential campaign.
In her statement, Arrington said she has made "truth and transparency" a hallmark of her congressional campaign.
"It's why I decided to pursue the release of documents surrounding the political hit job that was conducted against me," Arrington said, referring to a recent public records lawsuit she filed against the federal government seeking answers about why she lost her security clearance.
"In the same vein, Nancy should disclose who paid for this trip (to Miami), and should also take a drug test and make the results public. Maybe then the Lowcountry will understand why she has done nothing to combat the disastrous policies of the Biden administration," Arrington said in her statement.
Questions surrounding Arrington's final months at the Pentagon have come up repeatedly on the campaign trail ever since the former state lawmaker entered the race.
Arrington's departure from the Pentagon has also become the subject of a website created and paid for by the Mace campaign that calls Arrington "crooked" and features an out-of-context, looped clip of Trump at a Cincinnati campaign rally, where the crowd begins chanting, "Lock her up!"
Arrington on Friday fired back at those accusations and Mace's support of marijuana reform in her statement.
"Maybe Nancy was high during the briefing about her clearance, but if she wasn't, she would know that using marijuana while holding a clearance is illegal," Arrington said.
Mace has been a vocal supporter of marijuana reform at the federal level.
Last year, the freshman lawmaker from South Carolina introduced sweeping legislation, which would end the federal government's 85-year prohibition on marijuana.
The States Reform Act sought to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances list and impose a 3% federal excise tax. That tax revenue would help pay for law enforcement retraining programs, assist the Small Business Administration and support mental health initiatives for veterans.
At the time, the bill was presented as a conservative approach to the legalization debate in America, with a proposal that would tax and regulate cannabis more like alcohol.
Asked which drug panel test the Arrington campaign would like to see Mace take, Arrington's campaign spokesman Chris D'Anna said any standard test would do.
"But we're focused on marijuana because that seems to be the only thing she cares about lately," he said.
D'Anna also confirmed Arrington would take a drug test of her own if asked to do so.
"And let me just say this. Elizabeth Warren took a DNA test and we found out wasn't Native American," D'Anna said before adding, "We are all on pins and needles waiting to see what's Nancy's results will tell us."
This is not the first time Arrington has made an issue of whether or not Mace uses marijuana.
When she announced her candidacy in a two-minute video, Arrington took a shot at Mace for her States Reform Act.
"Why is she prioritizing that over the skyrocketing inflation, high gas prices and economic security for the Lowcountry? Is Nancy Mace high?" Arrington asked, straight-to-camera.
