Red State Real Talk: Mia Love

Please note: this Fifth Estate conversation is taking place on a Thursday, instead of a Tuesday, due to guest speaker availability.

Mia Love was once a rising star of the Republican Party. She was the first black female Republican elected to congress, running and winning in Utah’s 97% white 4th District in 2015. During her time in office, Love was appointed to the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

But Love chose not to embrace President Donald Trump during her mid-term election campaign last year, and drew his ire. Since losing her re-election bid (by just one percentage point) Love has become an outspoken critic of the President. ‘My district was home to many strong supporters of President Trump,’ Love has written. ‘… They love his economic record, his peace-through-strength foreign policy, his “America First” stance on trade, and his choices for judicial appointments. They don’t love racism.’

Love has been critical of Republicans’ ‘transactional’ approach to working with black Americans and minorities. But are Democrats doing any better? And how does Love think the 2020 presidential elections will play out?

‘I’m not going away,’ Mia Love said in her scathing concession speech. ‘But now, I am unleashed, I am untethered and I am unshackled.’ She’ll share her unique and candid perspective at the Wheeler Centre in October.

This event is presented in partnership with United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.