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Meet the Republican version of The Squad…
A new, diverse class of Republicans preps for battle with the left — in a bid to win back the House.
There’s a new Squad on Capitol Hill… Politico Reports…
On the first day of Congress’ freshman orientation, four incoming GOP members realized they shared a special connection: All had first- or second-hand experience living in communist or socialist countries.
The crew quipped that their family histories with brutal dictatorships and their aversion to Big Government basically made them the opposite of the liberal “Squad” that has surged to political stardom in the House.
Taking a page from their social media savvy rivals, they took to Twitter to share the name of their own counterrevolution. And the Republican “Force” was born.
The quartet — which includes Malliotakis and Reps.-elect Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Victoria Spartz of Indiana — is positioning itself as a conservative counterweight to the Squad.
Stuck in the House minority, the Force is unlikely to have much influence on next year’s legislative agenda. But their message is already proving politically potent.
Democrats are still reeling from House losses in November, when lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the anti-socialist attacks helped take down a dozen incumbents, including in South Florida.
Beyond the initial four members in the Force, there’s also California GOP Reps.-elect Young Kim and Michelle Steel, Korean immigrants who have been friends for decades and speak on the trail. Steel frequently points to the suffering their families endured under communist regimes.
They all belong to a high-profile freshman class that includes a record-breaking number of women and minorities for the House GOP. And with their diverse backgrounds and already-impressive Twitter followings, the Force could have an outsize impact as Republicans look to take back the House in 2022 — particularly as some are itching to do battle directly with the Squad.
As members of the Force build up their political and social media brands, they’re taking cues from an unlikely, but familiar, source: Squad leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Many members of the GOP Force — who, like the Squad, are mostly young and female — have even adopted Ocasio-Cortez’s pull-back-the-curtain style of politics. Ocasio-Cortez is known to post seemingly staged videos as she preps meals while casually discussing legislation coming to the floor.
Mace recently documented her journey through freshman orientation, which included getting lost in the Capitol building and racing across the campus. Salazar, who is credited with coining the Force moniker, posted a picture of the female group members with the caption: “We’re all working moms & we’re a true FORCE to be reckoned with!”
And earlier this summer, Salazar, a former broadcast journalist for Telemundo, got nearly 600,000 views on a Twitter video in which she recorded herself in the Goya aisle of a grocery store blasting Ocasio-Cortez for pushing a boycott on the company for its leadership’s support for Trump.
“I think the entire class is the Freedom Force.”
Aside from Ocasio-Cortez and a few other congressional Democrats, the vast majority of the party reject any notion that they back socialism in any form.
The incoming Republicans say they want to put a personal face on their ideological fight. Steel talks about how her parents escaped Korea and relocated to Japan and said she sees how it is easy to take freedom for granted in the U.S. Malliotakis — who defeated Army veteran Max Rose in a hard-fought Staten Island race — said in an interview that she wants to warn the younger generation of the perils of socialism and that she plans to take her message to college campuses.
“We want to make sure, particularly young people, understand that socialism is not something grand,” she said.
Republican leaders across Washington recognize that the future of their party — which has long been dominated by white men — rests with their new class of women and minorities. Elevating their voices will be a critical part of the GOP’s strategy to win back the House in 2022.
The incoming GOP women are a tight-knit crew. They are already discussing their plans to recruit more female candidates ahead of 2022, a midterm election that could propel Republicans back into the majority.