Democratic politicians aren’t the only ones who are sometimes forced to distance themselves from Covid-era identity politics.
At the height of thorny debates in 2020 over race and equity in America, a host of politicians came out strongly in favor of liberal social positions, like defunding the police and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In the subsequent backlash to this “Peak Woke” era, many of them — mostly Democrats — backed away from positions they took years ago, lest they be dug up and used by opponents to paint them as extreme or out of touch with normal Americans’ concerns.
But the latest such target is an unlikely one: Representative Julia Letlow of Louisiana, a Republican who is taking on Senator Bill Cassidy in a G.O.P. primary for his seat and accusing him of not being a staunch enough ally of President Trump.
Trump, who has helped lead the backlash against diversity efforts and ordered the dismantling of federal D.E.I. programs on his first day back in office, has endorsed Letlow. But a video unearthed by Fox News on Wednesday showed that Letlow, interviewing for a job as president of the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2020, praised D.E.I. programs and suggested that the school’s lack of diverse faculty members was “shameful.” She said that creating a D.E.I. initiative aimed at hiring more would be one of her first moves as president.
“If you have a person around the table that is cognizant and fighting for diversity, equity and inclusion before any decision is made for the university, that’s how you change,” Letlow told an interview committee, adding that “there are a lot of people on this campus who have never heard of unconscious bias.”
Letlow, who was part of the university administration and not yet elected to Congress at the time, particularly lamented the lack of Black women on the faculty, noting that “we don’t have enough women of color at the top.”
In January, The Daily Caller, a conservative news site, reported that Letlow, who was not ultimately selected to be president of the university, had helped with D.E.I. workshops while working at the school.
The Senate primary battle in Louisiana has turned on loyalty to Trump, with both candidates appealing to conservative voters in the deep-red state. Cassidy, who is facing pressure from the MAGA base — particularly over his vote to convict Trump in the impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — has sought to flip the script on Letlow and accuse her of being insufficiently conservative.
Wednesday’s revelation only added fuel to that fire.
“While Liberal Letlow was pushing D.E.I. policies at U.L.M., calling herself a ‘strong and progressive leader,’ Senator Cassidy was working with President Trump and others to secure billions of dollars for the state and bring conservative policies to Louisiana,” said Noah Evans, a spokesman for Cassidy’s campaign.
Letlow, in comments to a local news outlet last month, said that D.E.I. initiatives at the university had been “presented to us as something that would help students achieve the American dream,” but that she had quickly realized that the diversity push was “hijacked by the radical left and turned into indoctrination.”
“I spent the last five years in Congress fighting against it,” she added.
In a statement on Wednesday, Letlow’s campaign elaborated on that record, pointing to efforts like supporting the elimination of D.E.I. programs in the military.
“She stood with President Trump as he dismantled this ideology across the federal government,” said Katherine Thordahl, a spokeswoman for Letlow’s campaign, arguing that Cassidy himself had supported D.E.I. by voting for federal legislation that included such initiatives.
When a candidate faces federal assault charges
It’s not often that a member of Congress runs for re-election while confronting a potential 17-year prison sentence. Our colleague Tracey Tully, who covers New Jersey, explains.
Representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat from New Jersey, was charged last May with assaulting two federal agents in a chaotic, 68-second clash outside a privately run immigration jail in Newark. Congressional historians have had to reach back centuries, to 1799, to identify any similar charges against a sitting member of the House.
Now, a year later, the rare criminal case is in many ways overshadowing McIver’s race for re-election in November.
Video from that day shows McIver, 39, in a large scrum of people — lawmakers, protesters and federal agents — jostling. She can be seen pushing forward as she is pushed from behind; she is accused of slamming her forearm into one officer and striking another.
No one was injured. Minutes later, McIver, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, was invited into the jail to do what she had come to do: tour and inspect the facility.
Alina Habba, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey who brought the charges, has since been replaced. So has Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary who was in charge of carrying out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
But the case against McIver is headed toward trial.
On Monday, her lawyers filed a 79-page appeal, seeking dismissal of the indictment. They argue that McIver, a freshman congresswoman, is immune from prosecution because the charges stem from an authorized congressional oversight visit.
The courtroom back-and-forth is likely to stretch well past Election Day, and McIver’s legal bills are already mounting. She has spent at least $293,000 defending herself against the criminal charges — by far her largest campaign expense, federal records show.
McIver has one Democratic primary opponent, Lawrence Poster. But, for the moment, the criminal risks appear to outpace the political ones. If convicted, she faces as many as 17 years in prison.
Her court appearances have drawn national political leaders as well as scores of New Jersey Democrats, including State Senator Joseph Cryan, who grew up in Newark.
He said the case embodied what he saw as Trump’s efforts to “persecute enemies.”
“Growing up in Newark,” Cryan said, “I saw harder fouls on the basketball court than I did on that video.”
In One Graphic
Gas has officially hit $4 a gallon on average nationwide, pushed upward by the war in Iran. And when gas prices spike, a president’s approval rating tends to drop, our colleagues explain.
Republicans are keeping a close eye on whether Trump’s approval ratings take a hit. A drop would further fuel the party’s worries about the prospects of its House and Senate candidates.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He should not have said that.”
That was former Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a Democrat who was for decades the most prominent openly gay politician in the country.
He was just one of the critics of recent social media posts from the press office of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California that needle conservatives by suggesting that they are gay or effeminate. Even some Newsom allies, our colleague Tim Balk writes, said the governor should do better.
ONE LAST THING
Spotted: Lindsey Graham at Disney World
Ted Cruz at an airport. A Democratic congressman at a Las Vegas resort. Lindsey Graham at Disney World.
Photos of those politicians and others have rocketed across the internet thanks to TMZ, the Hollywood-based tabloid site, which is trying to shame members of Congress over the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Our colleague Catie Edmondson has more.
Tracey Tully, Taylor Robinson and Ama Sarpomaa contributed reporting.
Kellen Browning is a Times political reporter based in San Francisco.
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