Election Day has come and gone, and with it, a sweeping Republican victory across the nation, as voters showed their dissatisfaction with President Obama and his lackluster performance as Commander in Chief. Perhaps the most notable victory for Republicans came in the form of Mia Love’s tight victory in Utah’s 4th congressional district, where she became the first black female Republican congresswoman. Her victory shows not only a shift towards diversity in the Republican Party, but perhaps also a preemptive strike against an inevitable showdown with presumed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Love became a national media sensation overnight with her historic victory, leaving many national pundits surprised that the first black female Republican congresswoman is from Utah. National publications like USA Today and CNN highlighted her victory due in part to her gender and her race, which, despite Love’s rejection of them as reasons for her victory, are still conversation pieces not only here in Utah but on a national level as well.
In a recent interview with CNN, the network led into their segment with a sound bite from a victorious Love on election night saying, “Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black, Republican, LDS woman to Congress. Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it.”
During the interview with CNN, Love was asked about the injection of race and gender in her win, and she responded in a much different manner. “First of all, I think what we need to mention here is this had nothing to do with race,” she said. “Understand that Utahns have made a statement that they’re not interested in dividing Americans based on race or gender.”
This is a rather puzzling statement to make after what she said on election night, which made it quite clear she was aware of the fact that both race and gender played a part in her victory over Doug Owens. While Love may look to distance herself from playing to the uniqueness of her race and gender, the truth of the matter is that the cards were stacked in her favor from the very beginning in what appears to be a clever strategy by the Republican Party to inject more diversity into their base. According to KSL.com, Love raised nearly $4.6 million, with much of her money coming from out-of-state sponsors, as compared to her opponent, who only managed to raise about $700,000.
This leads to reasonable speculation that perhaps Love was being groomed and targeted by the Republican Party in part based on her race and gender, as her political background doesn’t exactly highlight her qualifications. As a former aspiring actress and flight attendant who successfully maneuvered her way to being elected as the part-time mayor of Saratoga Springs, her résumé doesn’t exactly scream credibility, at least not to the level that would merit the amount of outside money that was donated to her campaign. She received strong support from heavy Republican hitters like Mitt Romney, but despite all that money and support she still barely eked out a victory against Owens, who received mostly in-state funding and almost no outside party support.
It seems that Love was specifically targeted by the Republican Party in preparation for a 2016 presidential matchup with Clinton and to show that Republicans are a far more diverse party than they have been in the past. What better way to show that claim off than with the sparkling victory of Love from some podunk town in the predominantly white state of Utah? While it is unfair to suggest these are the only reasons Love was elected, it would be just as unfair to ignore the obvious facts and implications that give credibility to this claim in the first place. At the end of the day, the fact remains that Republicans are making it a point to inject diversity into their party, and it’s clear that Mia Love is well on her way to becoming the face of change here in Utah.