Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
- Reps. Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene have a history of publicly beefing with each other.
- But they both backed Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker of the House, making them temporary allies.
- Mace reportedly joked to a colleague that people only want to see the two "wrestling in Jell-O."
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina once joked to a colleague that people want to see her Jell-O wrestle with fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
The two have a history of intense acrimony, stemming from differences in how they position themselves in the party.
While Greene is an unabashed, far-right ally of former President Donald Trump, Mace has a more complicated relationship with the Trump wing of the party, including fending off a primary challenger backed by the former president last year. She often seeks to present herself as a centrist, criticizing her party's stances on abortion and guns.
In 2021, Mace went as far as to call Greene "batshit crazy" in a series of emojis after Greene referred to her as "trash."
—Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) November 30, 2021
But once Greene unexpectedly became a key ally of Kevin McCarthy, circumstances forced the two to work together.
And according to a new profile of Mace published by the New York Times on Tuesday, the two even huddled together on the House floor during the week that he painstakingly sought the job, going through 15 ballots before eventually securing victory.
According to the Times, a male lawmaker spotted the two chatting, and remarked that it was something that Republicans wanted to see more of.
Mace, acknowledging her own precarious position with the GOP base, made a joke in response.
"Who do you think you're kidding?" she reportedly said. "The only thing people want to see of me and Marjorie is if we're wrestling in Jell-O."