At the Utah Republican Convention recently, the party chose its nominees for Congress in the state. In an upset, the winner for the state’s 4th Congressional district was Mia Love. Until the convention, few people thought that Love had any chance to secure the nomination. The anticipated nominee was Carl Wimmer, a former state legislator. After Ms. Love’s speech (see below), there was little doubt that she would get the nod; in the convention voting, she secured over 70% of the votes. Who, then, is Mia Love?

Mia love

Photo by Smilingbandit

Mia Love was elected Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah in November, 2010. She served on the City Council from 2004 until becoming mayor. She was born in Brooklyn in 1975; both of her parents emigrated from Haiti. After completing college, she eventually moved to Utah, where she met Jason Love. Ms. Love converted to the LDS church, they got married, and now have three children.

She will now face incumbent Democratic Congressman, Jim Matheson in the November election. She has already gained the support of such notables as Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and (House Majority Whip) Kevin McCarthy. Because of her ability to engage voters, and her interesting demographic mix (Haitian-American woman, Mormon, Republican), Love is sure to get a lot of media attention in the upcoming election.

As far as issues, Love is pro-life, and plans to run on the issues of fiscal discipline, limited government, and personal responsibility. Here is the video of her speech to the Utah Republican Convention last week: