WASHINGTON. Deputies Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Bobert are two minor House minority freshmen who are powerless in the official hierarchy and unlikely to gain much power even with a likely Republican majority next year.
But their antics, indecency, and association with white nationalists have raised their profile far beyond their positions, and Democratic activists are determined to make them the face of the Republican Party in the coming election season.
The two aren’t the only Republicans drawing unwanted attention to the party, and some divisions within the party’s ranks are exacerbated by internal disputes, not Democrats. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, Senate Republican campaign chairman, was publicly rebuked this week by Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for publishing a campaign manifesto calling for higher taxes on the poor and cuts in welfare payments. Security.
On Wednesday, little-known Republican Texas Representative Van Taylor abruptly dropped his re-election bid after activists on the party’s right, angered by his voice, called for a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol – revealed pornographic text messages. which he sent to his mistress.
But it’s the faces of Colorado’s Ms. Bobert and Georgia’s Ms. Green that are making the rounds on social media, political videos and ads after they both stood and shouted at President Biden during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Ms. Bobert yelled at the president just as he was referring to the death of his son, Beau Biden.
Since President Donald J. Trump used racist language to criticize liberal women of color in the Squad in 2019, freshman members of the House of Representatives haven’t received as much attention. Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota and a favorite target of Mr. Trump’s team, said there were big differences.
First, Ms. Bobert and Ms. Green deliberately provoke a reaction to stay in the spotlight, she said, while her and representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan was more often sought after by critics. .
On Monday, Ms Greene publicly chided House Republican leader California Rep. Kevin McCarthy for her appearance at a far-right white supremacist conference. The next day, she and Ms. Bobert interrupted Mr. Biden and unsuccessfully tried to start chanting “build a wall” during his address to Congress.
And while Democrats regularly denounce their statements for statements they consider to be outside the mainstream, Republicans rarely do so, instead providing Ms. Green, Ms. Bobert, and other far-right platforms from which to broadcast their messages, such as the recent conservative political action conference. in Florida.
“We have the opinions of Democratic experts already written in advance, and there is a lot of swearing at the meeting,” Ms Omar said. “That’s not what’s happening with their party.”
Mr. McCarthy said that Ms. Green’s appearance at the far-right conference was “terrible and wrong”, promising to speak to her, but that is nothing compared to the criticism leveled at Ms. Omar when she used an anti-Semitic tropes to suggest that Israel’s support was driven by money. Mr. McCarthy also said that Ms. Green would be returned to the committee positions that the Democrats had removed from her if the Republicans controlled the House of Representatives next year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her weekly news conference on Thursday, echoed what is perhaps the only criticism a Republican has leveled at Ms. Bobert and Ms. Green after their national criticism.
“Let me say this,” Ms. Pelosi said. “I agree with what Senator Lindsey Graham said: ‘Shut up.
Republican leaders have an easier political task than Democrats as they seek to keep voters focused on what they see in their daily lives, such as inflation, soaring energy prices and ongoing frustration with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Democrats have no idea what drives voters and are desperate to deflect attention from their record of rising prices, rising crime and the crisis on our southern border,” said Michael McAdams, director of public affairs for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Ms Bobert’s staff did not respond to requests for comment, and Ms Green declined to speak to The New York Times. But she remained steadfast in the face of criticism. In December, she told former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon: “We are not marginalized; we are the backbone of the party.”
For this reason alone, Democratic operatives say they have every right to boost Ms. Green and Ms. Bobert’s notoriety and link them to other Republicans who have refrained from criticizing them, even when they criticized the two Republicans who were on the committee investigating the incident. . 2021 Capitol attack, representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee, said the House Democratic campaign team has not yet decided how important the two lawmakers will be in the upcoming campaign season.
According to him, the committee “puts funds where they bring the greatest benefit.” “If it means making them the face of the party, we will. If it means ignoring them, we will because it’s about winning the House of Representatives, not winning the argument.”
“But,” he added, “their actions are shameful, from attending white supremacy conferences to yelling at the president when he talks about his fallen son.”
Democratic allies are not so reserved. John Soltz, chairman and co-founder of VoteVets, a liberal veterans organization, said the group was checking voter reports to connect incumbent House Republicans in Democratic-leaning districts with far-right figures in the Republican Party.
The attack may not work in conservative counties, he said, but it could be against Republicans whose redistricting seats have become more Democratic, such as Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in New York and Rep. Mike Garcia in Southern California.
“There’s some pretty crazy rhetoric coming out of their mouths and behavior similar to what you saw from them at State of the Union,” Mr. Soltz said. “There are a lot of independent voters in the suburbs who could be five or six points leaning toward Biden, but now the Democrats have to get those voters back.”
Another Democratic political operation, American Bridge, links Ms. Green to Herschel Walker, the former University of Georgia football star Trump recruited this fall to challenge Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat.
Jessica Floyd, president of American Bridge, said Thursday the group’s efforts were aimed at making the midterm elections a choice between what she called the Republican Party of Extremists and a Democratic Party focused on the economy and governance, rather than a referendum on the nominee for presidents. , Biden, whose approval rating is dangerously low.
Voters “know and dislike the extreme positions that Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert represent,” she said.
She added, “This is an opportunity for the Democrats and I think we should take advantage of it.”