Pennsylvania Republican Kathy Barnette announced Tuesday she is “running to become the first Black Republican Woman elected to the US Senate.”
Barnette, who suffered defeat in her 2020 run for election to the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District, shared the announcement in a video message on social media.
“I’m Kathy Barnette and I’m running to become the first Black Republican Woman elected to the US Senate,” Barnette said in a tweet. “I’ll be the voice we need to defend our rights.”
“And by the way, Joe, just because I believe in competent leadership doesn’t mean ‘I ain’t Black,'” she added.
Barnette’s video message opened with a scene from the battlefield of Gettysburg with Barnette discussing the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation.
“The Emancipation Proclamation gave more than three million blacks their freedom,” Barnette said in the video. “But in the decades that followed, people who look like me could not fully integrate into the fabric of this nation. We couldn’t even register to vote. Today, not only can I vote without fear of violence, but I can run for office, too.”
But there are still deeply personal and demeaning hurdles we must overcome because now the issue isn’t just for someone who looks like me, but it’s for people who think like me, as well. People who think like me are being cancelled, bullied, fired, threatened, and de-platformed. We’re told that black lives matter, except of course my black life because I’m a black conservative. The radicals want to control and strip not just black conservatives, but all conservatives of our identity because we dare to think for ourselves.
Barnette’s announcement also included a clip of Joe Biden when he told voters prior to becoming president, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
“The white man that sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue believes he has the power to take away my blackness because I’m a conservative,” Barnette said of Biden. “But I will keep on. I will never let the words of another define me or determine my value.”
“Joe Biden, after the November election in 2022, you can call me something else — senator,” Barnette said.
“I can’t do it alone. Together, we will keep on and send a message to Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. that his words will not define us, that he cannot belittle us, and he cannot stop us from electing the first black Republican woman to the Untied States Senate,” she concluded.
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) also announced his support for Barnette’s campaign on Tuesday, saying she is needed in the Senate to “make history.”
“Wow! We need @Kathy4Truth in the United States Senate,” Owens wrote in a tweet sharing Barnette’s announcement. “Let’s make history!”
Others, including former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones and Sebastian Gorka, former deputy assistant to President Trump, also voiced support for Barnette.
Follow Kyle on Twitter @RealKyleMorris and Facebook.