The person, a transgender-identifying biological male, wrote: “I’M GOING TO ASSASSINATE REPRESENTATIVE NANCY MACE WITH A GUN AND I’M BEING 100% DEAD ASS,” on X April 26 under the username raystr1ker. Cain was later called by the FBI and admitted to making the threat, but said the threat wasn’t serious. South Carolina authorities arrested Cain on Thursday for making a threat toward a public official.

A judge denied Cain’s bond in the Friday morning hearing. Mace said in a press conference after the hearing that she “may be forced to run for governor” because “statewide leaders are doing nothing to protect women.”

She also appeared emotional and said at the beginning of the conference that it was “heartbreaking” to see what Cain “has made his life out to be.” Mace ended the press conference by thanking Cain’s family for their “humility.”

“I come before you today not just as a victim, but as a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives who has been the target of a direct and credible threat on her life,” Mace said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner in advance. “On May 15, 2025, Samuel Theodore Cain was arrested for threatening to murder me. He threatened to shoot me. His intention was clear and his intention was violent.”

The penalties for Cain’s alleged crime are a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Mace will request the maximum penalties for Cain.

“These threats are not just words,” Mace said. “They’re meant to intimidate, they’re meant to silence, and they’re meant to paralyze public servants who were elected to do a job.”

The congresswoman said her staff called and urged her to move to a secure location after the threat came in. She said she knew Cain was in South Carolina, but didn’t know exactly where. Mace said she and her children were vulnerable during this time.

“I had to make immediate changes to my movements, surroundings, and plans because a man I had never met threatened to put a bullet in me,” she said.

Mace said the transgender movement is “radicalized” and resembles a “cult.”

“Trans people and their supporters fuel violence, particularly toward women who speak the truth and toward elected officials who refuse to be bullied,” she added, saying men who crossdress are “mentally ill” and are “violent towards women.”

She said she and her staff experience fear daily that affects their jobs. Mace added she hoped Cain can “find God.”

“I ask the bond be denied or set to the highest possible amount under the law. The defendant should face the full weight of statutory penalties—because letting him walk away sends a message that threats against public officials are just another day without consequence,” Mace said of Cain.

“To do otherwise would send a dangerous message: that threatening to kill a member of Congress is a tolerable offense. It is not. It is criminal. And it must be treated as such,” she concluded.

South Carolina-based Snell Law Firm said a valid defense for someone charged under the threatening public officials law could be to argue they had a lack of intent or were joking. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina declined to prosecute Cain, according to the Post Millennial.

The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division previously told the Washington Examiner that the case will be prosecuted by the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

If Cain is convicted of the crime, the 19-year-old will face the weight of being a felon. A jury will have to determine whether the threat constituted a “true threat,” which the Supreme Court has decided is punishable as a crime and not protected under the First Amendment. There’s no known evidence that Cain had a weapon or planned to carry out a crime.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON MEANS FIFTH AMENDMENT TROUBLE FOR HUNTER BIDEN

Mace has received numerous threats since she introduced a resolution in November 2024 proposing to ban transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t correspond with their biological sex.

Cain appears to be the first person to be punished for threatening Mace. A person who violently shook Mace’s hand in December was arrested, but the charges were later dropped.