The Crunchy Moms Reshaping the Republican Party

Many of us are mothers—or hope to be mothers one day. Some of us work outside of the home and then come home to our more important roles of being mothers and wives. Some of us devote our entire beings to our families as stay-at-home mothers. Regardless of our current situation, we care deeply about the health of our children and are increasingly skeptical of industrially-produced food and the harmful ingredients used in their production and to increase their shelf life.

We’re crunchy (ish) conservative women in our late 20s, 30s, and early 40s. We know most people probably don’t care much about our opinion. But as we make the purchasing decisions for our households—and as the pundits tell us after every election—our voices and votes do matter! We’re reshaping the conservative political conversation and the Republican Party.

We love being conservative. We know that we’re the ones holding Western civilization together as we turn away from modernism and relearn the lost skills of our ancestors: sourdough bread making, homesteading, cooking, bone-broth drinking, breastfeeding, basic childrearing without too much screentime. And for those of us who are less crunchy—who drink our Dr. Peppers while our children eat snacks with red dye? We still love our traditional values.

We love that Trump has made it cool again to be patriotic. We are grateful to live in this great nation. But our conservatism of today is quite different from the conservatism of 15 years ago. It’s becoming clear that our values are steering away from the traditional guidelines of our party, most prominently in its support of big business.

Perhaps the most poignant and recent example of this diversion in the party is the passing of the Luna Amendment to the Farm Bill just last month. Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) introduced the Farm Bill that included provisions which shielded pesticide manufacturers from liability—that is, protecting large corporations from lawsuits from American families in the event that their products could be linked to some harmful outcome.

By the grace of God, Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) stepped up, amid in-fighting and aggression from her own party, to successfully pass the Luna Amendment, which strips the Farm Bill of these provisions. Her website states, “Pesticides are linked to a 30% increase in childhood cancer and over 170 studies corroborate the evidence.” Luna is a proud MAHA Republican and, as one of the few members of Congress to give birth while in office, one can easily conclude that her motherhood greatly influences her politics. We’re right there with her.

But the party is divided. More Republicans voted against the Luna Amendment than for it (73 yes, 135 no), while nearly all Democrats supported this Amendment (207 yes, 6 no). It is disappointing at best and troubling at worst.

Another example is the increasingly contentious debate surrounding data centers. While Trump endorses the rapid expansion of these centers (see his executive order from July 2025), many state-level Republicans, and MAHA mothers, reject this rapid expansion with concerns about their effects on our health, our electricity bills, and our environment. We are thankful for Ron DeSantis who once again has set the precedent by signing Senate Bill 484 into law on May 7th, denying the construction of a data center should it use any water that would be detrimental to local resources. The bill also assigns data centers full financial responsibility of electricity costs, ensuring “that such cost is not shifted” to the public. It’s not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Still, how can the party continue with this ideological divide?

I don’t have the answers, but I would encourage Republicans to truly consider the impact of the MAHA movement and not to dismiss it as a crunchy pastime for suburban mothers. At its core, MAHA seeks to protect and empower the individual by prioritizing health and standing up against the abuses of megacorporations who value profits over the health of their customers. MAHA is conservative Republicanism at its core. Supporting megacorporations who outsource jobs to third world countries, who fight for immunity from litigation against their products, and who push anti-conservative propaganda is not.

Put simply, we do not forget (or forgive) the rainbow logos, the pronouns, the shadow-banning, the fact-checking, and all the other abuses of the Covid era. Jeff Bezos’ and Mark Zuckerberg’s attendance at Trump’s inauguration does not forgive these vile attacks on our free speech and our conservative values. If it’s true that women control or influence 85 percent of consumer spending, then all Republicans should know: we choose the small farmer who produces 100 percent grass-fed beef, the family farms who regeneratively grow fruits and vegetables without the use of glyphosate, the artisan who makes real wood products, and the maker who creates tallow for our little one’s sensitive skin. We choose these small businesses—many of which share our conservative values—over megacorporations as much as we are able with our dollars and with our politics.

If the Republican party is going to continue protecting individual liberty, it must reckon with the idea that one’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without interference from the government must also extend to without interference from megacorporations. Our politics and legislation must reflect that ideal by protecting small farmers, protecting individual health, and protecting the environment from their diabolical and often shortsighted plans for some development or another (see data centers, solar panel fields from solar panels made in China, yet another townhouse complex, and on and on). 

Mothers are the core of civilization. In rearing our young and passing our faith and values on to the next generation, we shape society. We have immense social, economic, and political power—and we are letting the world know through our dollars and our politics. We demand that our party become the party of the people and leave its loyalty to corrupt megacorporations behind.