{"id":1907,"date":"2026-06-19T10:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2026-06-19T10:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:42:24","slug":"new-red-state-elections-official-says-women-in-office-do-not-have-what-it-takes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1907","title":{"rendered":"New red state elections official says women in office \u2018do not have what it takes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A longtime fixture in local government, Lorene Kamalu\u2019s seen controversy come and go. But she was shocked last week to learn that the newest elections officer in the state was a young conservative influencer who\u2019s described himself as \u201canti-universal suffrage\u201d and declared \u201cwomen generally do not have what it takes to endure the pressures of a public office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Good luck\u2019: WSJ columnist explains why Trump is already a lame duck<\/a><\/p>\n

Kamalu, a Republican running for a third term as Davis County commissioner, recalled thinking, \u201cHow could this be happening in this day and age? How could this be happening, you know, in the U.S., in very important elected offices? And then, how in the world is this happening in Utah?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamalu is among dozens of women in elected office who signed calling for \u201ctrust, professionalism and equal respect in Utah County elections\u201d after 23-year-old Kai Schwemmer was named deputy county clerk, despite his remarks about women and lack of experience running elections. Other critics vented their frustration at a public meeting last week.<\/p>\n

In response to the outcry, Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson gave Schwemmer a new title this week of confidential administrative associate. In a posted Tuesday on the county\u2019s website, Davidson listed the role\u2019s functions as those of \u201ca project manager, external liaison, and key representative,\u201d as well as a personal assistant to the clerk. He has said the position would be temporary but did not give a timeline in the document.<\/p>\n

Schwemmer, a student at Brigham Young University and officer in the College Republicans of America, said he\u2019s happy about the change in job description. He told Utah News Dispatch the new role \u201cprobably more accurately reflects where I should be, than the chief deputy position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwemmer streamed for years on a platform founded by white nationalist Nick Fuentes and made remarks in that time criticized as racist and antisemitic, but distanced himself Thursday from those comments and his statement on women in office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe fundamentally that every single one of us was made in the image of a loving Heavenly Father,\u201d Schwemmer said. He went on to add that \u201cany idea of, you know, hating a person or believing that they are less than, because of some immutable characteristic, is fundamentally \u2014 it fundamentally is incongruent with what is most important to my worldview.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwemmer told Utah News Dispatch he\u2019s not a \u201cgroyper\u201d \u2014 the term for followers of Fuentes, who\u2019s called for the U.S. to be a white, Christian nation. Schwemmer said that\u2019s not a vision he has for the country. Asked to spell out how his views align or diverge with Fuentes, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a productive way of discussing political alignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The duties of his revised role include working on long-term planning and managing the budget, the description says. But unlike the previous title of chief deputy, the new job does not make Schwemmer the default to take over as top elections official in the event the clerk has to step away for one of many reasons, said Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner, an author of the letter and the county\u2019s former elections clerk.<\/p>\n

Powers Gardner called the revised role \u201cmuch more appropriate,\u201d saying in an interview that \u201cI\u2019m going to take the win that at least he\u2019s not in an authoritative position now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to women in leadership, Powers Gardner noted \u201cthe community that he enjoys today is being run by dozens of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a comment in November from former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who resigned from office after breaking with President Donald Trump, Schwemmer said on the social media site X that \u201cwomen generally do not have what it takes to endure the pressures of a public office and this is a perfect example.Hey Marg, literally everyone on the internet with any clout gets death threats, you\u2019re not a special case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwemmer said Thursday he was frustrated with Greene for stepping down when he wrote the post and \u201cit kind of sucks whenever I see somebody taking it to mean that there are no women who can lead effectively or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The Juneteenth truth about Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

He told Utah News Dispatch that he\u2019s \u201chad the opportunity in the last year and a half here in Utah, being more active locally, to get to know some truly incredible and very strong and fierce women who are fighting for issues that I think are really important, and I would happily trade dozens of men for a single one of them, so that would be my big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statewide, more Utah women are serving in government, with an increase in the state Legislature , according to the Utah Women & Leadership Project.<\/p>\n

Davidson, the Utah County clerk, has said he hired Schwemmer to better reach first-time voters whose ballots are sometimes rejected because their signatures look different than on their driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re making this a bigger issue than it should be,\u201d Davidson told Utah News Dispatch on Wednesday. He said criticism of Schwemmer\u2019s past statements has not considered enough of the context around those comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an issue about reaching first-time voters. And you, the media, and these 80 women are politicizing it, and mainly because I\u2019m running for office right now, and I\u2019m trying not to delve into that,\u201d Davidson continued. \u201cI don\u2019t want to address their letter, because I don\u2019t want to sound like I\u2019m using my position to advocate for me running for office.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Schwemmer, in his work for the county, is getting in touch with schools and other institutions in hopes of trying to reach young voters of all stripes and educate them so their ballots get counted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is committed that he is not going to politicize it at all and make it a female-male issue,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cThis is a first-time voter issue, and that is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson faces a challenge in the race for Utah County clerk from fellow Republican Corey Astill.<\/p>\n

Schwemmer, for his part, said in a statement laying out his commitment to residents of the county that he has two priorities: \u201censuring that voter outreach remains nonpartisan in principle and practice, as well as improving ballot validation rates among young voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins, also a former state lawmaker and signer of the open letter, noted social media algorithms reward high engagement, creating extra incentive to make inflammatory posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cKai is young,\u201d Judkins said. \u201cHis brain has not fully developed. His frontal lobe still has time, right? I\u2019m hoping in 10 years, 20 years, he\u2019s going to look back on this and think, \u2018what was I doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she said, Schwemmer espouses views \u201cthat are hurtful and harmful, that denigrate and degrade over half the population. I just don\u2019t see that there should be a role for that person in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more George Conway details how Macron trolled \u2018ignoramus\u2019 Trump at Versailles<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A longtime fixture in local government, Lorene Kamalu\u2019s seen controversy come and go. But she was shocked last week to learn that the newest elections officer in the state was a young conservative influencer who\u2019s described himself as \u201canti-universal suffrage\u201d and declared \u201cwomen generally do not ha…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNew red state elections official says women in office \u2018do not have what it takes\u2019 - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1907\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New red state elections official says women in office \u2018do not have what it takes\u2019 - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A longtime fixture in local government, Lorene Kamalu\u2019s seen controversy come and go. 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