Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) joined the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on Tuesday after denouncing the group, the Washington Post reports.
“It’s demagoguery. They sit there and ignite emotions and ignite racism when there isn’t,” Love told Desert News in January 2012. “They use their positions to instill fear. Hope and change is turned into fear and blame. Fear that everybody is going lose everything and blaming Congress for everything instead of taking responsibility.”
After losing her first House race, Love told Desert News she would join the CBC to ” try to take that thing apart from the inside out.”
In 2014, Love appeared to change her harsh stance as her win looked inevitable — Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) announced his retirement from the heavily-Democratic district, leaving the field wide open for Love.
“I will consider joining because I think that in order to affect change, you can’t do it from the outside in. You have to do it from the inside out. I’m going to see if I can make a difference there,” Love said in a CQ Roll Call interview.
Love became the second black Republican to join the group since Florida Rep. Allen West’s swearing-in on Tuesday, and is the only Republican member of the caucus. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) declined to join.
“My experience has been the whole notion of one nation — so I really shy away things that create some kind of boundaries,” Scott told Politico in 2010. “It highlights the divisions I’ve been pushing forward to erase.”
Follow Katie on Twitter: @k_mcq. Email her at kmchugh@breitbart.com.
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