In the 2018 election, “democratic” socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Grow Yucca in NYC) took the Democratic Party by storm. AOC and her “squad” of young female progressives set out to drive that party as far to the left as they can, and they have largely succeeded. Four impressive Republican women are turning the “squad” on its head, running to beat socialism and show that women are at home in the GOP.
“The Democrats have taken a far-left turn under the influence of the socialist squad. This is socialism versus American values of freedom and job creation,” State Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), the first female graduate of The Citadel and a former U.S. Senate candidate, told Fox & Friends on Thursday. “2020 next year is pivotal for our country. And we see so many women across the country right now, Republican women, who are picking up the mantle and want to serve. Enough is enough.”
“I love granddads everywhere, but this is not your grandfather’s GOP anymore,” quipped Mace, who is running to represent South Carolina’s 1st congressional district.
Like AOC, Mace’s story starts with waiting tables. “I got my start as a waitress at Waffle House, I became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. Today, I’m a businesswoman and state lawmaker running for United States Congress. And this is about our future. This is the American Dream,” she said.
Mace ran a tea party-style campaign to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in 2014. How times have changed!
Business owner Jessica Taylor — a candidate in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district — launched her campaign with a promise: “Conservatives like us need a squad of our own, and I will build it.” In a spunky campaign ad, Taylor recalled being part of a basketball squad in high school. Now, she’s leading a squad to storm Congress and beat socialism.
“I was born in small-town Alabama, I’ve had a job since I was sixteen,” Taylor told Fox & Friends. “Fundamentally, I believe in less government.”
Michelle Fischbach, who is running in Minnesota’s 7th congressional district, boasts a truly impressive resume. The first female president of the Minnesota state Senate, she became the state’s lieutenant governor in 2018.
Beth van Duyne, the first female mayor of Irving, Texas, is running to represent Texas’s 24th congressional district. After serving as mayor, she joined the Trump administration under Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.
“We really do have a Congress that’s run by extremists, and it’s dangerous for America because they aren’t doing anything,” van Duyne declared. “You see Democrats run saying that they’re going to be independent and they’re going to be different and they’re going to be really focused on solutions for the American people, and instead all we’ve seen is a focus on impeachment and it is political theater, and it’s at the cost of public policy.”
“Americans are starving for results,” Mace insisted. “Our roads and bridges and schools, these things need to be rebuilt, and instead we’re stuck on impeachment.”
It may be premature for these four women to declare themselves “the conservative squad,” since none of them have yet won their primary races. However, this is an impressive set of Republican women, and they are looking for more members.
Democrats have long claimed to be the party for women, and 2018 saw a flood of Democratic women elected to Congress. Yet 2020 may become the year of the Republican woman. The Center for American Women and Politics reports that so far, 170 Republican women are either running for Congress or are considering a run, more than double the 67 who ran for Congress in 2018.
Women hold 126 of the 535 seats in the House and Senate, less than 24 percent. Republican women only hold 21 seats in total: eight in the Senate and 13 in the House.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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