Freedom Force (United States Congress)

The eight members of the Freedom Force:

Maria Elvira Salazar, FL-27
Carlos Giménez, FL-26
Byron Donalds, FL-19
Nicole Malliotakis, NY-11
Michelle Steel, CA-48
Victoria Spartz, IN-5
Burgess Owens, UT-4
Stephanie Bice, OK-5

The Freedom Force is an informal coalition of several Republican members of the U.S. House Of Representatives established in 2021. It was first coined by Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and comprises Salazar, Carlos A. Giménez, and Byron Donalds of Florida, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Michelle Steel of California, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Burgess Owens of Utah, and Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma.^[1]^[2]^[3]

It has been described as a conservative alternative to the progressive group, The Squad, which was established by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).

Both the Freedom Force and The Squad began as groupings of then freshman class members. While all members of the Squad are under 50 years of age, members of the Freedom Force range from 40 to 69 years of age. In addition, while all members of the Squad represent safe, solidly Democratic congressional districts that have a Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) score above D+20, members of the Freedom Force represent competitive districts, with each individual’s 2020 race being decided by a few percentage points. Byron Donalds is the lone exception, who won his election with over 60% of the vote.

At the moment, the Freedom Force is majority-female by a 5 to 3 margin. It is also majority-minority, with three Hispanic-Americans (Salazar, Gimenez, and Malliotakis), two African-Americans (Donalds and Owens), one Korean-American (Steel), one Ukrainian immigrant (Spartz), and the first Iranian member of Congress (Bice). Members of the Freedom Force denounce socialism and support small businesses.^[1] They also oppose the Green New Deal and oppose court-packing.^[4]^[5]

Members[edit]

Member	Born		District	CPVI	Prior experience	Education	Assumed office
Maria Elvira Salazar	November 1, 1961 (age 62) Miami, Florida	Republican	Florida 27	D+5	Journalist, broadcast television anchor	Miami Dade College University of Miami (BA) Harvard University (MPA)	2021
Carlos A. Giménez	January 17, 1954 (age 70) Havana, Cuba		Florida 26	D+6	Mayor, Miami-Dade County (2011–2020)	Barry University (BPA)
Byron Donalds	October 28, 1978 (age 45) Brooklyn, New York		Florida 19	R+13	Member, Florida House of Representatives (2016–2020)	Florida State University (BS)
Nicole Malliotakis	November 11, 1980 (age 43) New York City, New York		New York 11	R+3	Member, New York State Assembly (2011–2020)	Seton Hall University (BA) Wagner College (MBA)
Michelle Steel	June 21, 1955 (age 69) Seoul, South Korea		California 48	R+4	Member, Orange County Board of Supervisors (2015–2021)	Pepperdine University (BA) University of Southern California (MBA)
Victoria Spartz	October 6, 1978 (age 45) Nosivka, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic		Indiana 5	R+9	Member, Indiana Senate (2017–2020)	Kyiv National Economic University (BS, MBA) Indiana University, Indianapolis (MAcc)
Burgess Owens	August 2, 1951 (age 72) Columbus, Ohio		Utah 4	R+13	Non-profit executive, National Football League player	University of Miami (BS)
Stephanie Bice	November 11, 1973 (age 50) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma		Oklahoma 5	R+10	Member, Oklahoma Senate (2014–2020)	Oklahoma State University, Stillwater (BS)