There’s a new face of the far-right: moms.
A vocal subset has taken the fight to recast America in the image of arch-conservatism to local school boards nationwide. And, at least when it comes to Congress, key Democrats are blissfully unaware of their activist umbrella group, Moms for Liberty, which many Republicans love but the Southern Poverty Law Center deems an ‘extremist’ threat.
Moms for Liberty has only been around since 2021, yet it’s cultivated considerable sway in Republican circles.
This week, GOP presidential aspirants — from former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to former governors Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) — are flocking to Philadelphia to address the second annual Joyous Warriors National Summit, hosted by Moms for Liberty.
But in interviews this month with Raw Story, several prominent Democrats appeared completely unaware of Moms for Liberty.
“Never heard of them. Should I have heard of them?” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story. “I originally thought you said ‘Bombs for Liberty.’”
Other Senate Democrats also shrugged when Raw Story asked about the group.
“Who are they?” asked Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) is among the congressional Democrats who weren't familiar with Moms for Liberty. Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images
“Hmmm,” wondered Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “I don’t know.”
It’s the same amongst some House Democrats, including party leaders.
“I haven’t heard of them,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, recently told Raw Story.
A staffer then reminded the congressman that Moms for Liberty came up in the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation. Aguilar was one of just nine members of Congress who served on the panel.
‘I don't think that the left is aware’
After gaining electorally-impressive ground for a newcomer — a smidge over half of the candidates it endorsed won last year — Moms for Liberty is tripling down. Its Philadelphia gathering is a training seminar for local school board candidates who want to ban “woke” books, control school lunches and otherwise ensure that far-right priorities become standard operating procedure within the walls of schoolhouses.
Moms for Liberty is also eagerly exporting their agenda to blue states, undercutting Democrats, seemingly, right under their noses. They’ve fought to ban critical race theory in southern California, gone after a gay school superintendent in New York and targeted books from Oregon to New Jersey.
Local chapters of Moms for Liberty have reportedly teamed up with more well known, far-right extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters militia. The group is helping put a maternal face on the fringe-right while attempting to normalize Christian nationalism and even some QAnon conspiracies.
It's alarming to those taking note.
Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice (L) and Tina Descovich give the opening remarks before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit at the Tampa Marriott Water Street on July 15, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Octavio Jones/Getty Images
“The left isn't even in tune to some of these groups that are getting very powerful at the grassroots level,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) tells Raw Story. “I don't think that the left is aware of even what's going on at the local level. I don't think they have any clue. I don't think the center – independents who are going to work every day – have any clue what the right is doing and how they're mobilizing, where their funding is coming from.”
Riggleman served as an adviser to the special Jan. 6 committee where he helped investigate domestic extremism. He says Moms for Liberty is especially dangerous because it’s serving as a melting pot for the new right – a place where traditional conservatism commingles with crazies.
“There's going to be very well-intentioned people in Moms for Liberty, but there's some absolute wackos. It's a very evangelical group, and it is a group that really does thrive on using evangelicalism as sort of a cudgel for hate, in some instances,” Riggleman says.
The group claims it’s now active in 44 states, with some 120,000 members spread across 285 chapters.
In Florida, where the group first formed, Moms for Liberty has harassed students, teachers and gotten an Anne Frank book yanked off the library’s shelves in Indian River County. The Moms for Liberty chapter in Brevard County challenged the appropriateness of 41 library books and forced its longtime school superintendent to resign.
Moms of Liberty’s reach is now far beyond the Sunshine State’s borders. In Indiana, a Moms for Liberty chapter recently quoted Adolph Hitler in its newsletter. In Arkansas, a member threatened librarians with gun violence, and in Virginia, a debate over LGBTQ policies devolved into violence and led to one arrest and one injury. In Pennsylvania, a local Moms for Liberty leader allegedly hacked a dead woman's Facebook page.
‘My experience with them has always been very positive’
On the right, Moms for Liberty is the new normal, hence Republican presidential hopefuls are storming Philly this week in spite of all the promised protests from groups left-wing groups such as PA STOP Moms for Liberty, People for the American Way, Defense of Democracy, ACT UP Philadelphia and Campaign for Our Shared Future.
“My experience with them is they’re just trying to get people elected as school board members that believe in parental rights and parents being involved in their kids’ education,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) – a former Florida governor – tells Raw Story. “My experience with them has always been very positive.”
Some congressional Republicans didn’t want to discuss any of the negative accusations against Moms for Liberty.
Instead, they praised them as a ‘parental rights group.’
“They happen to be parents that say, ‘Hey, I should have a voice in the education of my child,’ and that's a good thing in America for parents to be more engaged,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) tells Raw Story.
To Lankford and other Republicans, the Southern Poverty Law Center is itself an extremist group — of the left. After it labeled Moms for Liberty extremists, Republican lawmakers rushed to defend the conservative moms and, instead of focusing on the allegations, dismissed SPLC as biased.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit at the Tampa Marriott Water Street on July 15, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. DeSantis is now running for president. Octavio Jones/Getty Images
“They're allowed to be a left-wing group in America, but they shouldn't be somebody that's actually referenced and used by any federal document or any federal agency to be able to use them as a source,” Lankford says. “And they just show their bias again, again.”
Moms for Liberty’s founders have turned the “extremist” label from the Southern Poverty Law Center into a right-wing badge of honor.
“Name-calling parents who want to be a part of their child’s education as ‘hate groups’ or ‘bigoted’ just further exposes what this battle is all about: Who fundamentally gets to decide what is taught to our kids in school — parents or government employees?” reads part of a statement sent to Raw Story by a spokesperson for Moms for Liberty Co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich. “We believe that parental rights do not stop at the classroom door and no amount of hate from groups like this is going to stop that.”
’Doesn’t mean they can’t be racist’
While Moms for Liberty isn’t on the radar of many powerful congressional Democrats, some of the party’s rank-and-file members are all too familiar with the group.
“There in my district. They’re showing up to our local school board meetings and trying to ban books and using homophobic, hateful rhetoric,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tells Raw Story. “I’ve seen them in action. I’ve seen how incredibly unsafe my residents feel in their presence.”
For Tlaib, the fight has been personal, because she sees them reaching out to her fellow Muslims. And having success.
“I’m really worried, because some of these marginalized communities, like the Muslim community and others who have very conservative views have been lining themselves up with Moms for Liberty, and that’s been a great concern of mine,” Tlaib says. “They’re basically going to the Muslim community and using their radical views on LGBTQ stuff to get my Muslim neighbors to join them in these efforts. It’s been really hard to watch.”
The group presents itself as harmless, minivan driving moms. But the trope-ridden, 1950s veneer the group is selling nationwide is misleading, at best, detractors contend.
“Just because they say they’re moms doesn’t mean they can’t be racist or homophobic,” Tlaib says. “They’re a group to very much pay attention to. The name is misleading, but the actions are very clear.”
And as culture warriors, Moms for Liberty is formidable.
“They've been putting in a lot of harm,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) tells Raw Story. “First of all, I do appreciate when parents are involved with their kids’ school. That's very important for kids, but right-wing extremists shouldn't be taking over our school boards.”
And Frankel says national Democrats need to start focusing on the hyper-local issues that have national importance.
“Everyone has to care, and it's going to take all of us to defeat these extremist, rightwing trends,” Frankel says. “People need to speak up.”
