Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington won her seat 30 years ago, campaigning as “the mom in tennis shoes.” But there’s another mom in contention, Murray’s 2022 Republican challenger, Tiffany Smiley—who is trying to convince voters it’s time for a change as she blasts Murray’s long record and presents herself as the new mom on the block—full of can-do energy and optimism, ready to pick up the baton and run with it.
Smiley is a former triage nurse who battled the Pentagon to allow her husband, blinded by a suicide bomber in Iraq, to continue to serve on active duty—breaking barriers for disabled members of the military.
Impressive stuff, to be sure, and the kind of biography that political stars are made of. Personally recruited more than a year ago by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Smiley filled the bill of a fresh face, a charismatic motivational speaker on veterans’ issues, and someone who could upset Murray in what was shaping up to be a Republican year.