Ousted Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, skewered President Trump in her concession speech Monday for espousing a worldview in which there are “no relationships, just convenient transactions.”
Love’s comments came several days after Trump blamed her defeat on a lack of enthusiasm for him in her re-election campaign, before her race had officially been called.
“Mia Love gave me no love and she lost,” Trump said earlier this month during a post-Election Day press conference at the White House. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”
Love, who conceded Utah’s 4th Congressional District on Saturday to Democrat Ben McAdams, told supporters in Salt Lake City Monday that Trump’s remarks gave her “a clear vision of his world as it is.”
“No real relationships, just convenient transactions. That is an insufficient way to implement sincere service and policy,” she said, according to CNN.
“The president’s behavior towards me made me wonder: What did he have to gain by saying such a thing about a fellow Republican?” the two-term incumbent said. “It was not really about asking him to do more, was it? Or was it something else? Well Mr. President, we’ll have to chat about that.”
Love also said Trump’s statements shone “a spotlight on the problems Washington politicians have with minorities and black Americans.”
“You see, we feel like politicians claim they know what’s best for us from a safe distance, yet they’re never willing to take us home,” she said. “Because Republicans never take minority communities into their home and citizens into their homes and into their hearts, they stay with Democrats and bureaucrats in Washington because they do take them home, or at least make them feel like they have a home.”
McAdams, Salt Lake County mayor, was ahead of Love on election night, but Love closed the gap as more ballots were tallied after Nov. 6. McAdams’ final margin of victory was 694 votes. McAdams’ win adds to House Democrats’ net gain of 39 seats in the 2018 midterm election cycle.
