President Donald Trump on Wednesday opined that Utah Rep. Mia Love “gave me no love” by refusing to fully embrace his “law and order” agenda — and so she lost.
Trump’s biting remarks came during a post-election news conference where he applauded Republicans for expanding their majority in the U.S. Senate after Tuesday’s midterms and wasted no time doling out tough criticism to House Republicans, including Love (R-Utah), who refused to hop on his bandwagon.
Rep. Mia Love is currently trailing her Democratic opponent by just a few percentage points, making the race still too close to call. (Photo by Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune)
During his remarks, the president claimed the Black congresswoman called him “all the time” asking for help freeing Utahn Josh Holt, who was released earlier this year after spending two years in a Venezuelan prison. As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, Love’s re-election campaign later distanced itself from Trump’s administration which, the POTUS said, led to her lackluster performance in Utah’s 4th Congressional District.
“Mia Love gave me no love and she lost,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”
The president proceeded to rattle off a list of GOP candidates who distanced themselves from him and did “very poorly” in the midterms, taking aim at Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, Florida’s Carlos Curbelo and Mike Coffman of Colorado, among others.
“They did very poorly,” Trump said. “I’m not sure that I should be happy or sad, but I feel just fine about it.”
As for Love, the House’s sole Black woman Republican is trailing her Democratic opponent, Mayor Ben McAdams, by less than three percentage points, according to the polls. The race is still too close to call, as a significant number of ballots remain uncounted in Salt lake and Utah counties.
In September, Love accused Democrats of targeting her because “they don’t like the fact that I’m a Black female Republican … they don’t like that I’m out there talking about that we are going to help make life better.”
“There are still tens of thousands of ballots to be counted,” Dave Hanson, Love’s campaign manager, told The Salt Lake City Tribune. “Nothing has changed.”
Hanson declined to comment on Trump’s criticism.
Watch more in the clip below.
"Too bad, Mike…Sorry about that, Mia."
Pres. Trump calls out GOP candidates who distanced themselves from him and "did very poorly." https://t.co/F6vbWLG1YO pic.twitter.com/iDOTKIIcbo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 7, 2018
