Republican Whittney Williams, a President Trump supporter who used to live in the U.S. illegally, on Monday announced that she would be launching a campaign to challenge Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens (D) for the 11th District seat Stevens flipped blue during the 2018 midterms.
Williams, 37, said in an announcement video that she was brought to the United States at the age of 10 from Taiwan “without knowing a word of English.”
“My family overstayed their visas and, as a result, I spent the next 16 years living in the shadows as an illegal immigrant,” Williams said.
{mosads}Williams, the director of diversity for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District Republican Committee, married her husband and gained citizenship in 2013, her campaign said in a statement to news site Mlive.com.
“Now as a citizen, I want to help change the Washington culture,” she says in her announcement video. “I’m sick and tired of political games, and I’m sure you are too. When I’ll go to Congress as a pro-life conservative who supports strong border security, Democrats are going to have a hard time using their typical playbook against me.”
Trump has made hardline immigration policies a keystone of his administration, including rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Obama-era action that allowed children brought into the country illegally to remain. A federal appeals court ruled in May that Trump’s decision to terminate the program was unlawful.
Williams touted Trump’s record on unemployment and the economy, while showing a picture of the so-called “Squad” of progressive minority congresswomen — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)
“I want to further this economic success and fight back against the radical left’s socialist agenda,” she said.
This is Williams’s first run for office, MLive.com reported.
Stevens, an ex-Obama official, won the district by nearly 7 percentage points during November’s midterm election.
The seat was previously occupied by Rep. Dave Trott (R), who did not seek reelection.
As of June 30, Stevens has raised $1.3 million for her 2020 campaign.
Both candidates running in the district outside of Detroit have experience in the automotive industry.
Stevens is the former chief of staff for former President Obama’s auto task force, and Williams’s website states that she worked as an U.S. auto show product specialist.