REPUBLICAN WOMEN'S POLITICAL RHETORIC FROM 2010-2022: U.S. NATIONALISM, MYTHS, MOTHERHOOD, AND MORALITY

Abstract

In 2010, the number of Republican women running for U.S. congressional office broke previous records. Following in Sarah Palin’s footsteps from 2008, many of these Republican women combined appeals to motherhood with nationalistic myths traditionally associated with men to make arguments about their superior morality and preparedness for public office. I study the congressional and gubernatorial campaigns of Republican women from 2010-2022 through the critical perspectives of U.S. nationalism and myths, with a focus on white frontierism, agrarianism, and militarism. I argue, in part, that these women challenge traditional gender norms when drawing on the legacy of these national myths that helps them appear as insiders to traditionally masculine spaces on the ranch, on the farm, and in the military. I also examine the ways in which Republican women rely on the legacies of white Republican Motherhood myths, which helps them establish their morality and identity as political outsiders. Finally, I explore the ways in which these myths reinforce the whiteness of U.S. nationalism and the political candidacies of these Republican women.Chapter One analyzes the campaign discourse of Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) that reflects the rhetorical legacies of white frontierism and white motherhood. Specifically, I analyze the ways that these women give voice to frontier themes of white expansionism and bravery, rugged individualism, and maternal protectionist themes in ways that reified white gendered nationalism and morality. Chapter Two examines the campaign themes of Kristi Noem (R-SD), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) in connection with the white agrarian myth and white motherhood. Specifically, I explore how these white women depict these myths through agrarian themes such as Allegiance to a Physical Space, Service to the Community, and Preparedness for Political Participation. Chapter Three analyzes the military and white motherhood myths reflected in the campaign discourse of Ernst, Martha McSally (R-AZ), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL). Specifically, I examine the ways that these women’s campaigns depict themes of gendered nationalism, patriotism, morality, and militarism, with a particular focus on the Patriotic Mother. Chapter Four explores the racial and gendered implications of these Republican women’s mythic appeals. The chapter also extends scholarly understandings of the gendered norms for the congressional and gubernatorial candidacies of Republican women. In elaborating the implications of this project, I first suggest that the Republican women in this study are making important political advancements by challenging traditional gender norms associated with the legacies of frontierism, agrarianism, and militarism. Yet, the women’s emphasis on their role as mothers is likewise reinforcing traditional gender norms in troubling ways that suggests their contributions to motherhood constitutes them as political “outsiders.” Also troubling is the Republican women’s reliance on racist appeals in their perpetuation of white frontierism, agrarianism, militarism, and motherhood myths. This study ultimately offers insight into the contested political terrain that Republican women tread as Democratic women far outnumber Republican women in Congress and Republican voters voice less interest than Democrats in electing women to office.