Yahoo Finance Miss America 2018 Cara Mund, Inspired to Protect Women's Rights, Launches Bid for Congress in North Dakota
James MacPherson/AP Photo
Miss America 2018 Cara Mund is running for Congress in her home state of North Dakota.
The 28-year-old announced her candidacy Saturday and quickly began gathering signatures to get her name on the November ballot. She'll need to collect 1,000 from North Dakota residents and hand them over to the secretary of state by Sept. 6, according to The Forum, a Fargo-area newspaper.
She hopes to run as an independent for her state's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. If she wins, she'll make history.
"On the 57th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, I am proud to announce that I am seeking to be North Dakota's first female in the U.S. House of Representatives," Mund said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
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It will be tough, though, in North Dakota, where Republicans hold every statewide office and conservative values run deep.
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"I already know it's an uphill battle, and some people likely aren't even going to vote for me because they think there's no shot, but you don't know until you try," Mund told The Bismark Tribune. "I think the best part is I can take the best of both parties and find what's best for North Dakotans."
Mund says she decided to join the race out of concern for the waning reproductive rights of American women since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional guarantee of abortion access across the country.
She told the AP that the ruling for her was "just a moment where I knew we need more women in office."
Most abortions are set to become illegal in North Dakota later this month. The AP reports that the state's only abortion clinic is preparing to move from Fargo to a location across the border in Minnesota.
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Forcing people seeking an abortion "to travel across state lines is going to impact women, and women of lower social economic status," Mund told the AP.
"I don't think the government should be in your bedroom. I don't think the government should be in your doctor's appointments. It's your right to privacy, and as the first woman running for this position, I recognize the importance of that and the importance of having a woman's voice heard," Mund said in an interview with The Forum. "It's an individual's choice."
5 years ago today ✨ The course of my life completely changed. Little did I know that exactly 3 months later, I would make history for North Dakota as our first Miss America❤️! It all started right here on this North Dakota stage! pic.twitter.com/e170ZjNSGm
— Cara Mund (@CaraMund) June 10, 2022
Mund, who's entering the race just months before Election Day, will be her own campaign manager and reportedly lacks the fundraising capabilities of her would-be opponents, Democrat Mark Haugen and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, the Republican incumbent who won reelection in 2020 in a landslide, according to The Forum. The GOP has held North Dakota's House seat since 2011.
But Mund, a Bismark native who attended Brown University and recently graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, is up for the challenge and feels most comfortable running as an independent. "I'm not a party — I'm a person," she said, adding that she agrees with Republicans on some issues and with Democrats on others.
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She points to her experience representing her state at countless public appearances during her reign as Miss North Dakota and later as Miss America.
Also, Mund believes she has essential skills that apply to business and public service thanks to a nonprofit fashion show she started at age 14 that benefitted the Make-A-Wish Foundation during its 10-year run.
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As an undergrad at Brown University, Mund sought leadership positions at various extracurricular groups, The Forum reports. And at Harvard Law School, she performed more than 1,000 hours of pro bono work and won an award for "her commitment to justice, her advocacy, compassion for her clients, and stellar representation of each of those clients."
Mund is in it to win it but said there are other benefits to launching a long-shot bid for Congress. Campaigning will give her the opportunity to hear from voters across North Dakota and to hold elected leaders accountable, she noted to The Forum.
"I want women in our state, especially after the [Supreme Court's] Dobbs decision, to know that they have an avenue to be heard," she said.
