Outgoing Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) went after President Trump and the GOP broadly in a new interview, saying they have alienated minority voters and failed to make women feel welcome in the Republican Party.
Love voiced her criticisms in an interview with Washington Examiner, saying women and minorities stay with the Democratic Party “because they feel like they have a home — or Democrats make them feel like they have a home.”
“I’ve said this to my colleagues, we need to do a better job than just talking about how great our policies are, we need to actually let people know that we care,” Love said. “They need to like Republicans.”
Love, the only black Republican woman in Congress and the daughter of Haitian immigrants, was defeated in her reelection race earlier this month.
Trump publicly ripped Love in a press conference the day after the midterms when he went after Republicans who he said failed to sufficiently embrace him.
“Mia Love gave me no love and she lost,” he said.
Love declared herself bemused by Trump’s reproach. “What did he have to gain,” Love asked, “by saying such a thing about a fellow Republican?”
Love has spoken out against Trump frequently since being defeated by Democrat Ben McAdams by a slim margin in their House race.
On Monday, Love said Trump had “no real relationships, just convenient transactions.”
Republicans lost 40 House seats in the midterms, and Love attributes some of those losses on the GOP being out of touch with minority voters.
“I can get through the language,” Love said, referring to the president’s rhetoric.
But, she added, “I just want to make sure that we show people that we care instead of using language that, I think, makes people feel like they can’t trust us.”
The 2018 midterms show what happens when Democrats show up to vote: They outperform Republicans, even in red districts.
Base-turnout strategies only take either party so far in general elections, but they take Democrats further, thanks to the party’s sustained registration advantages.
Trump managed to win in 2016 without a campaign strategy to improve this failing on behalf of the GOP.
However, he won those blue-wall states not because he significantly expanded the Republican voter footprint, but because Hillary Clinton failed to turn out Democratic voters, falling well below the turnout for Barack Obama four years earlier.