Republican Mia Love prevailed in Utah's 4th Congressional District in Tuesday's midterm election to not only become the first African-American female Republican ever elected to Congress, but also the first Haitian American to serve the House.
Love, the Brooklyn-born daughter of Haitian immigrants, emerged victorious in a tight race against Salt Lake City lawyer Doug Owens, son of the late U.S. Rep. Wayne Owens of Utah, the Associated Press reported. With this victory, Utah Democrats will no longer have any representatives in Congress.
The 39-year-old's success has partly been attributed to the way she handled her campaign funds leading up to the 2014 midterm election, experts said, adding that she had used her finances, which were five times more than Owens, to push ads and gain some final votes.
However, this was not the first time the former mayor of Saratoga Springs ran for a seat. Two years ago, Love narrowly lost to six-term conservative Democratic congressman Jim Matheson at the 2012 Republican National Convention. But "this time, she ran a stronger campaign and underscored a pro-business, small-government agenda," according to New York Daily News. Matheson chose not to seek another term this year.
Among several issues, Love had emphasized her beliefs on immigration by referring to her parent's journey and promised to bring more women of color to the House of Representatives.
"My parents told me that when they finally became U.S. citizens, they had studied the Constitution, American history, they learned the English language. And when they pledged allegiance to the American flag for the first time, they meant every word of it and understood what they were saying," she told an audience.
But she also downplayed the importance of her race, instead expressing little tolerance for identity politics and telling Congressional Black Caucus that she would "try to take that thing apart from the inside out."
"Racism is only a problem today ... as long as people allow themselves to be victims," she told Newsweek, adding that black Democrats "ignite racism when there isn't [any]."
Meanwhile, when questioned earlier about what Love's victory would mean for the issue of diversity in Congress, her campaign told The Huffington Post, "While Mia understands the historical implications of this election, [...] Congress should reflect not only the diversity of the country but also a diversity of ideas."
