‘Mama bears’ may be the 2024 race’s soccer moms. But where the GOP seeks votes
In many election cycles, there’s a snappy shorthand used to describe the type of voters who may help decide the winner. Think soccer moms or security moms. Even NASCAR dads.
And now, the “mama bears.”
These conservative mothers and grandmothers, who in recent years have organized for “parental rights,” including banning discussion of gender identity in schools, have been classified as extremists by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have also been among the most coveted voters so far in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Donald Trump praised their work, saying organizations such as Moms for Liberty had taught the liberal left a lesson: “Don’t mess with America’s moms.” Ron DeSantis said “woke” policies had “awakened the most powerful political force in the country: mama bears.” His wife, Casey DeSantis, who launched “Mamas for DeSantis” in leadoff-voting Iowa, said moms and grandmas were the “game changer” in DeSantis’ blowout win for a second term as Florida governor. She predicted they will be again as he runs for president.
“We saw there was a constituency of folks who really wanted a voice, and it wasn’t just Republicans. It was independents, but also a lot of Democrats, too, who didn’t like the direction that the country was going,” Casey DeSantis said during a talk peppered with stories about raising kids in the governor’s mansion, with slime on the ceiling and crayon on wallpaper.
“It’s one thing when your policies come after us as mamas. It’s another thing when your policies come after our children, and that’s when the claws come out.”