“God always comes first, and my husband and my children always come second, and then work can follow behind that,” says Alexis Valdez Darnell, a regional political director for the Republican National Committee, reflecting on her approach to balancing a career in politics with family life. Valdez Darnell is one of five female staffers with compelling personal stories the RNC elected to highlight in a video series — “Lead Right: The Women Changing Politics” — that celebrates Women’s History Month.
The RNC published the videos throughout March “in order to highlight our efforts ahead of midterms and demonstrate how we are already ahead of the curve,” according to an RNC spokesperson. For a party dogged by stereotypes, fighting an uphill battle to win favor with women and minorities, it’s easy to understand why such a project would be worth the effort.
Esther Lu, whose story as a Chinese immigrant was documented in an RNC video published this week, serves the party in California as a coordinator of Asian Pacific American engagement. “For me, coming from China to see the impacts people are able to make in America, the difference is so obvious it’s too clear not to see it,” she explains in her video interview. “The U.S. has done a lot for me and my family, and to be able to give back to the U.S., I think that’s just one of the most privileged things I can ever do.”
From Nevada to Texas to Washington, D.C., the video series gives voice to this group of women all working diligently to advance the same cause, but who came to the GOP from different backgrounds. “It’s important for me to be able to show young women that they can sort of pursue all of those positions in politics that they want to and they can be very successful at them,” emphasizes Valdez Darnell. “My mom and my dad never lead us to believe we could not accomplish something because we were women, or because we were young, or because we were Hispanic.”
A Pew poll released earlier this month found far more millennial women identify with or lean towards the Democratic Party than the GOP — and by a staggering margin of 70 to 23 percent. Even more troubling, that gap has doubled in only four years. When it comes to outreach with young women in particular, Republicans are digging themselves out of a deep hole.
“Contrary to what the Democrats would like for you to believe, the Republican Party and Trump Administration are proud to have elevated and appointed women to top leadership roles,” a party spokesperson contended, noting that the RNC, under the direction of second-ever female chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, “has more women in leadership and management roles than ever before” and “more than half of our Republican Leadership Initiative (RLI) Fellows are women.”
McDaniel, the spokesperson said, “has been instrumental in our drive to show that we are the party FOR women.”
The five women showcased in the RNC’s video series this month are each “playing a crucial role in helping the Republican Party maintain its majorities” that spokesperson explained. And with the first Trump-era midterms fast approaching, it’s clear the party is going to need their help.
