US presidential summit heralds Moms for Liberty as major 2024 player
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[June 30, 2023]
By James Oliphant
(Reuters) - Moms for Liberty, a conservative parents-rights advocacy
group that has rapidly expanded since its founding little more than two
years ago, will flex its political muscles this week as top rivals for
the 2024 Republican presidential nomination speak at its national
conference in Philadelphia.
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner in the race, and Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis, his closest challenger, will address the group on
Friday, a testament to the weight their campaigns are placing on its
agenda of race and gender-based cultural issues related to education
heading into next year’s nominating contests.
The Republican rivals are hoping to appeal to parents of school-age
children, particularly suburban women, an important voting bloc in U.S.
presidential elections.
“The candidates know that the No. 1 issue domestically right now is the
attack on parental rights and the educational failure in our country,”
said Tina Descovich, a Florida-based co-founder of the group.
Launched in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, Moms for Liberty
increasingly has played an active role in helping to elect conservative
members of local school boards, while also lobbying state legislatures
for measures such as Florida’s law that prohibits the teaching of
gender-identity concepts to elementary and middle-school students.
The Republican candidates' courting of the group's members signifies its
arrival as a major conservative player in national politics. Its summit
is being sponsored by longtime right-wing policy shops such as the
Heritage Foundation and the Leadership Institute, which trains
candidates for office.
No presidential candidate has worked harder to align itself with the
group than DeSantis, who has made limiting transgender rights central to
his campaign.
As Florida’s governor, he has actively engaged with the group, and
members have responded in kind. Volunteers sporting shirts with the
group’s logo could be seen working recently at DeSantis’ presidential
campaign events in Iowa.
COURTING MOMS
Other Republican candidates also are cozying up to Moms for Liberty,
which now claims 120,000 members in 44 states.
Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, recently sponsored a
fundraiser for the group in his home state. In May, Mike Pence, the vice
president under Trump, was bracketed by members of the group as he
railed against an Iowa school district’s “gender transition” plan.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who will also speak at the
Philadelphia summit, publicly defended the group after the Southern
Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, labeled Moms for Liberty
an “anti-government extremist” organization.
Members of the group have also shown up at Trump’s rallies, bearing
their signature shirts.
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Robin Steenman, chair of the local
chapter of Moms for Liberty, holds her 10-month-old daughter Judith,
alongside fellow concerned parent Brett Craig, in front of a power
point presentation highlighting the types of books Moms for Liberty
think contain age-inappropriate material about racism, at her home
in Franklin, Tennessee, U.S., August 16, 2021. Picture taken August
16, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
Descovich said the organization will not endorse a Republican
candidate in the primary, but instead insist that candidates pledge
to support its agenda of advancing policies that increase "parental
involvement" and "defend against government overreach."
Critics of Moms for Liberty, including national civil-rights groups,
said its focus has moved beyond pandemic-related learning issues
toward embracing an anti-LGBTQ and anti-diversity agenda that has
brought about measures in several states restricting what can be
taught in schools and books they term objectionable being pulled
from library shelves.
Such culture war issues have animated parts of the Republican base.
Republicans are more likely to back restrictions in the teaching of
systemic racism and gender-identity concepts than Democrats and
independents, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May.
A majority of Americans, however, do not favor banning books from
school libraries if they contain content relating to sexual
orientation or gender identity, the poll found.
And even for Republicans, as a top issue of concern, education falls
well below topics such as the economy and immigration, the poll
said.
Advocacy groups such as People For the American Way, ACT UP, Defense
of Democracy and a Facebook-based effort called STOP Moms for
Liberty organized protests in Philadelphia ahead of the Moms for
Liberty conference.
A rally outside the hotel hosting the summit is planned for Friday
morning when DeSantis is set to speak.
“This is not about ideology,” said Jazmyn Henderson, a transgender
woman with ACT UP. “We are talking about trying to wipe a community
of people out of existence, about trying to force us back into the
shadows.”
Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for DeSantis' campaign, has defended the
group on Twitter. "We look forward to the event and reject the lies
about the group," Griffin told Reuters.
Descovich and other top figures in the group deny an anti-gay
animus. She said Moms for Liberty remains largely concerned with
learning loss connected to school closures from the pandemic and
that its opposition is driven by politics.
“People are angry because we are upsetting the balance of power,”
she said.
(Additional reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Colleen Jenkins
and Alistair Bell)
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