Days after losing her re-election bid in deep red Utah, Representative Mia Love, the only black Republican woman in Congress, condemned President Trump on Monday in a scathing concession speech, describing him as having “no real relationships, just convenient transactions.”
She used similar language to attack her own party, accusing Republicans of having a “transactional” relationship with minority and black voters.
Ms. Love, who was elected to Congress in 2014 and had been viewed as a rising Republican star, lost her election by less than a percentage point to Ben McAdams, the Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County. Her defeat — in a district that Mr. Trump carried in 2016 by seven percentage points — handed Democrats another seat in the House of Representatives, giving the party 38 additional seats in the midterm elections and helping them take control of the chamber.
Ms. Love’s harsh words for Mr. Trump came in response to remarks the president made about her nearly three weeks ago: During a televised news conference the day after Election Day, Mr. Trump mocked the congresswoman for losing her race even as the votes were still being tallied.
“Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost,” Mr. Trump said. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”
Democrats had tried to portray Ms. Love as a Trump loyalist. But during her campaign, she had not enlisted the president’s help and had spoken out against him.
In her concession speech on Monday, Ms. Love said she was initially surprised by Mr. Trump’s “jab” at her.
“The president’s behavior toward me made me wonder, what did he have to gain by saying such a thing about a fellow Republican? It was not really about asking him to do more, was it? Or was it something else? Well, Mr. President, we’ll have to chat about that,” she said.
“However,” she added, “this gave me a clear vision of his world as it is: no real relationships, just convenient transactions.”
Ms. Love, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and the only Republican woman in the Congressional Black Caucus, also criticized Republicans for how they interact with minority voters.
“This election experience and these comments shines a spotlight on the problems Washington politicians have with minorities and black Americans — it’s transactional. It’s not personal,” she said. “We feel like politicians claim they know what’s best for us from a safe distance yet they’re never willing to take us home.”
“Because Republicans never take minority communities into their home and citizens into their homes and into their hearts, they stay with Democrats and bureaucrats in Washington because they do take them home, or at least make them feel like they have a home,” she added. Continue reading