Your guide to the new ultraconservative officials elected in America

It was a Blue Wave, but there's still a red tide.

Ellen Ioanes

Tech

Posted on Feb 10, 2019 Updated on May 20, 2021, 7:28 pm CDT

As progressive leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) settle into their roles, 2019 is a new day in American politics. But while the hoped-for Blue Wave brought about a host of historic firsts (not to mention a check against President Donald Trump), it’s worth remembering that a number of very conservative leaders have also taken office this year.

The Daily Dot looked through the brand-new elected officials on both the state and national levels to see which leaders were bringing their ultraconservative bona fides into office.

They’re ranked, from politicians who hold concerning ideas about women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, race, immigration, climate change, drug policy, and gun rights, to leaders who’ve openly adopted pro-Second Amendment and anti-choice positions—basically mainstream conservative ideals at this point.

It’s important to remember that state legislators are the ones passing laws that affect your state, so they hold significant power in your everyday life. And while bigoted politicians like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) won their elections as well, he’s received significant news coverage and won’t be found on this list.

Hard-core conservative leaders

Steve Watkins, Kansas’ 2nd Congressional district

On his campaign website, Watkins says he signed the national Right to Life pledge, touts the need to “secure our borders” to stop illegal immigration, and spouts fear-mongering rhetoric about “violent transnational gangs.”

He’s also a big fan of the Second Amendment.

Josh Hawley, Senator from Missouri

“Josh has been a dedicated advocate for religious liberty, both as Attorney General and for his entire professional career. Before he became Attorney General, Josh fought Obamacare at the Supreme Court—and won—as one of the lead attorneys in the landmark Hobby Lobby case. Josh was also a lead attorney in the Hosanna-Tabor case at the Supreme Court, protecting the rights of churches,” his campaign website boasts.

Hawley is anti-choice and thinks Hollywood and the sexual revolution are to blame for human trafficking.

Regarding family separation at the border, he’s in favor of imprisoning families together.

“I think that is it imperative that families be kept together, but I think it’s also imperative that our law is enforced,” Hawley said. “And you know what else, Congress ought to do something about this, Congress ought to provide more funding to build more centers for families and children, Congress ought to give us more immigration judges so that we can speed this process, they ought to change the procedures to make sure that adjudications can happen more quickly and folks don’t need to be held up for this long, so they oughta do something about it.”

Dan Meuser, Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional district

Meuser is Pro-2A, pro-life, wants to end DACA, supports the travel ban, and wants to defund sanctuary cities.

Michael Guest, Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional district

Pro-life, pro-2A, explicitly pro-Israel, and anti-immigration.

Brad Little, Governor of Idaho

Believes in decentralizing education system, is anti-gay marriage, and pro-life.

John Joyce, Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional district

Pro-2A, pro-life, aligns with Trump on border security.

Steve Marshall, Alabama Attorney General

Fought for travel ban, wants to end sanctuary cities, pro-life, pro-2A.

William Timmons, South Carolina’s 4th Congressional district

Pro-2A, pro-life, supports building the wall and ending sanctuary cities.

Kevin Hern, Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional district

Pro-2A, pro-life, believes marriage should be between one man and one woman. Hern has said that Obama administration’s laws caused “American families [to] face a sluggish job market, ceaseless national security threats, and uncertainty regarding the American way of life.”

Brian Kemp, Georgia governor

Tried consistently to suppress votes of people of color throughout his campaign; pointed a gun at a teenager in a campaign ad, wants to stop sanctuary cities, thinks a school deciding not to say the Pledge of Allegiance is “anti-American.”

John Bizon, Michigan State Senate District 19

Pro-life, pro-gun doctor who supports immigration reform to “Keep terrorists and anti-American radicals from living in our country, no matter where they are from.”

Kevin Cramer, U.S. Senator from North Dakota

Wants to build a border wall and defund sanctuary cities, as a pro-lifer, he attempted to ban late-term abortion in U.S. House of Representatives, pro-2A.

Ron DeSantis, Florida Governor

DeSantis was plagued by associations with racists like David Horowitz. He also campaigned on a Trump platform, featuring his children in campaign ads to “build the wall.” He has also pledged to sign stringent anti-abortion measures and opposed licenses for guns. He also wants to ban sanctuary cities in Florida.

Significant conservative platform

Ed McBroom, Michigan State Senate 38th district

Pro-life, 93 percent rating from the NRA. Also voted to allow adoption agencies to discriminate on the basis of religion and to prohibit the state from taking action against those agencies for that discrimination, and voted for a bill making it illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion.

Matt Hall, Michigan state house 63rd district

Endorsed by Michigan Right to Life, NRA and wants to make English Michigan’s official language.

Jeff Howe, Minnesota state senate 13th district

Pro-life, anti-immigration and against sanctuary cities

Cindy O’Laughlin, Missouri state senate 18th district

“O’Laughlin is a born-again Christian who believes that cake bakers and other should not be required to participate in gay weddings and other activities that do not fit their world-view.”

Also pro-life and pro-2A.

Tony Leutkemeyer, Missouri state senate 34th district

Pro-life and pro-2A, anti-sanctuary city.

Sheila Solon, Missouri state house 9th district

Pro-life, pro-2A, also promises to “stand up for the First Amendment rights of our churches and other institutions to freely exercise their religious beliefs against government infringement.”

Hardy Billington, Missouri state house 152nd district

Pro-life and pro-2A, has also said that being gay takes years off peoples’ lives and should not be discussed in schools.

Dirk Deaton, Missouri state house 159th district

Pro-life and pro-2A, strong concerns about religious liberty.

David Dunn, Montana state house 9th district

Pro-life, pro-2A. Also shared NRA TV and Project Veritas posts, questions climate change.

Rodney Garcia, Montana state house 52nd district

Repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed his opponent in an interview, posts anti-sanctuary city and anti-immigrant information on Facebook.

Joe Read, Montana state house 93rd district

Suggested a bill in his first bout as a state legislator to declare global warming natural and beneficial.

Bob Evnen, Nebraska Secretary of State

Evnen is “pro-life and pro-family,” pro-2A, and pushes the idea that “some” people want non-citizens to vote.

“As has been demonstrated across the country, once voting corruption occurs it is almost impossible to eradicate. The time to address this problem is before it occurs. As Secretary of State, I will work to assure that our elections remain fair and secure.”

Mike Moser, Nebraska state legislature 22nd district

Moser opposes adding gender/sexual identity into anti-discrimination laws, is against giving funding to organizations that perform abortions, wants to prohibit abortions except if it risks the life of the mother, and supports voter ID laws.

Myron Dorn, Nebraska state legislature 30th district

Pro-2A, pro-life and pro “traditional family values.”

David Murman, Nebraska state legislature 38th district

Murman opposes adding gender/sexual identity into anti-discrimination laws, is against giving funding to organizations that perform abortions, wants to prohibit abortions except if it risks the life of the mother, and supports voter ID laws.

Ira Hansen, Nevada state senate 14th district

Very pro-2A, anti-”illegal” immigration.

“Illegal means ILLEGAL. If you broke the law to get here, you should be sent back. President Eisenhower did exactly that in the 1950’s. It is a terrible slap in the face to the immigrants who played by the rules to grant ‘amnesty’ to cheaters. Businesses who knowingly hire illegals should be heavily fined.”

Ralph Boehm, New Hampshire state house Hillsboro 20 district

Wants to ban abortion after 20 weeks, supports repeal of gay marriage, opposes increased funding for heroin treatment programs.

Michael Trento, New Hampshire state house Hillsboro 7 district

Believes marriage should be between one man and one woman, wants a constitutional amendment that says life starts at conception.

Charles Melvin, New Hampshire state house Rockingham 15 district

Wants to limit abortion rights, opposes further restrictions on gun ownership, in favor of strict residency requirements for voting.

Dan Davis, New Hampshire state house Rockingham 16 district

Wants to seriously limit abortion rights (bans after 16 weeks), opposes further restrictions on gun ownership, does not support New Hampshire’s efforts to combat climate change.

Kevin Pratt, New Hampshire state house Rockingham 3 district

Wants to limit abortion rights, does not want stricter gun control, opposes New Hampshire’s efforts to combat climate change.

Terry Roy, New Hampshire state house Rockingham 32 district