In new ad, GOP millennial candidate says Congress needs a 'new generation of conservative leaders'
Marilinda Garcia is young, successful and personable — everything the GOP needs to shake up the party and maybe start appealing to a younger generation on a broad basis.
In a new ad that comes one week after her GOP primary victory in New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District, Garcia says that taxpayer distrust in government has led to a need for a “new generation of conservative leaders to challenge the status quo.”
Garcia has been described as a “dream candidate” for the GOP.
“If a Republican political operative were to dream up an ideal GOP congressional candidate for 2014, the image might look something like Marilinda Garcia,” wrote Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics. Garcia, a graduate of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, has served as a state representative since 2007. She also plays and teaches the harp.
As much of a symbol as she is for GOP millennials, Garcia’s politics also appeal to Tea Partiers, and she won her primary with backing from the Club for Growth. This has prompted her Democratic opponent, incumbent Rep. Ann Kuster, to label her an "extremist."
In an interview with Conroy, Garcia said she had a “morbid curiosity” about what else Democrats might attack her on. “I don’t know what they’re going to say about me. I mean, look, they’ve already done ‘the extremist,’ so I know there will be all of that silliness,” Garcia said. “But otherwise, who knows? It’s scary.”
In November of last year, just hours after Garcia announced her candidacy, New Hampshire state Rep. Peter Sullivan — a Democrat — begantweeting sexist comments about her.
Sullivan compared Garcia to reality TV star Kim Kardashian and said the 31-year-old candidate was just another Republican “in stiletto heels.” After backlash from Republicans, Sullivan offered a non-apology: “After careful consideratin [sic], I want to apologize to Kim Kardashian for comparing her to a right-wing extremist like Marilinda Garcia,” Sullivan tweeted.
Garcia's candidacy counteracts the Democrats’ narrative that the GOP is composed of only old, white men, so naturally opposition to her candidacy will be severe and at times repulsive.
Garcia trails her opponent in the latest poll by three percentage points, but the WMUR survey showed Kuster in a precarious position with just 39 percent, down sharply from 50 percent in June. The district tilts slightly Democratic but has repeatedly changed hands between the parties in recent years.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in-new-ad-gop-millennial-candidate-says-congress-needs-a-new-generation-of-conservative-leaders/article/2553457
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