A former member of the House of Representatives discussed the Republican Party and her time in Congress at the Elliott School Wednesday.
Mia Love, a former two-term congresswoman from Utah, discussed her identity as a black Republican and the influence that President Donald Trump has had on her party. Love, who lost her re-election bid to Democrat Ben McAdams last fall, said Republicans in Congress are divided over whether to support Trump.
Love said that while some congressional Republicans protect Trump “at all costs,” members of the party should hold the president to a high standard.
“I have got principles and platforms that I live by, and I will be holding everybody accountable to them, including the president,” she said. “That is the only way you are going to preserve those principles you believe in.”
Love added that she became a contributor for CNN after her re-election defeat because she wanted to “elevate the conversation” on politics. She said members of Congress on both sides of the aisle aim to generate “viral moments” during high-profile hearings instead of gleaning information from the witness and expert testimony, which degrades conversation about national issues.
“Speak in anger, and you will give the best speech that you will live to regret,” Love said.
She said the president exerts “too much power” over Congress, and the body fails to protect itself from the president’s influence, rendering the legislative body the “least effective” branch of government.
Love said that during her time in Congress, she was the only member of the Democrat-dominated Congressional Black Caucus. She said membership in the group, which aims “to ensure that African Americans and other marginalized communities in the United States have the opportunity to achieve the American dream,” opened her mind to new perspectives and allowed her to find common ground between the caucus and her party.
“They saw my voice as the only voice they had in the GOP,” she said.
Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, said Republicans should increase outreach efforts to minorities and recruit more minority candidates to run for public office as the demographics of the United States shift.
“Please do not be like the colleagues that I have,” she said. “Some of them are great, some of them are scared, but a lot of the time, some of them don’t go to the places we should go. They don’t speak to the people we should speak to.”
