A Democratic State Senator says she's hearing positive responses to a floor speech she made Tuesday after a Republican colleague's fundraising email tied her to baseless conspiracies.
Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) spoke out because of an email from Sen. Lana Theis's (R-Brighton) campaign calling McMorrow out by name while referencing debunked QAnon conspiracy theories about grooming children for abuse.
Now, she said, others need to speak up too.
“What happens next is, we don’t stop calling hate what it is. And I hope, long term, that empowers more people like me — and I was pretty intentional with saying I’m a straight, white, Christian suburban mom who’s comfortable. You know, I think a lot of people who are comfortable and okay are afraid of standing up and rocking the boat. And we have to,” McMorrow told reporters.
The campaign for Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) sent the fundraising email that connected McMorrow with the conspiracies. It went on to make a broader point about parental rights in education.
The campaign did not to respond to a request for comment.
But on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, Theis commented, “Sen. McMorrow is not naïve about politics and fundraising.”
She went on to accuse Democrats of “seeking to undermine [parents] as the primary decision-makers in the education of their children.”
McMorrow said she was tired of politicians trying to weaponize religion to score political points with white suburban Christian moms like herself.
“It is horrifying, but hopefully if more people just point out how ridiculous it is that it dilutes the power of trying to make those accusations,” McMorrow said.
