Federal States of Xathuecia wrote:In case we ever need more GOP senate leadership hehe
Character Name: Clementine Redmond
Character Gender: Female
Character Age: 85
Height: 5 ft. 6 in.
Weight: 146 lbs.
Character Position/Role: Senior Senator from Mississippi (1982 - Present), Republican Policy Committee Chairwoman (2014 - Present), Representative for Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District (1976 - 1982)
Character State of Origin: Mississippi
Character State of Residence: Mississippi
Character Party Affiliation: Republican (1988 - Present), Democrat (1952 - 1988)Character Strengths
Well respected and enjoys strong approval ratings in Mississippi; Favorite among the Christian Right; Supporter of President Wolf; Family connections across the South; Widespread suburban women and evangelical support; Safe seat in Mississippi
Character Weaknesses:
Often the "boogie-woman" of liberals for her religious views; Hypocritical in some of her stances and views; Past political stances and statements stand to hurt her; Outwardly partisan; Family history can be a bit troublesome; Puts party over principle; Southern apologist; Dislikes social justice and progressives; Older age inhibits her; Definition of a career politician; Mildly unpopular in her own state
Biography
Clementine was born in a rural part of Mississippi, living a rather tranquil early childhood life with her family. The Wendolyn clan owned quite a fair bit of land in the area and thus they were often welcomed in the local community. In fact, the Wendolyn's had lived in this part of central Mississippi for generations, from the very beginnings of the state. This of course also meant that the family were former slave owners and the childhood home of Clementine was a former classic Southern estate mansion. While hardly controversial in the state, this would become a controversy for her father's later years in the Senate and her own tenure. Her father was a patron of the arts as one of the few wealthy men in the county and in central Mississippi as a whole. Though most of his wealth came from managing the land and profitable investments in the booming towns of Beaumont, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia, he remained rooted in his own part of the state and often rubbed elbows with a number of high-profile politicians. Thus Dorothy was exposed to the ways of political influence quite early and grew up with it. Her mother on the other hand often did not like these political guests and was a more shy person, leading overall to numerous conflicts between the young girl and her mother.
As she attended school, she fortified her political beliefs as a more conservative student. This led to a great deal of espousing to the Southern Democratic cause and eventually she attended the University of Mississippi to study business and law. Dorothy returned to Louisiana for about two years following her college experience to support her father's new bid for the 3rd U.S. Congressional District, this time with a husband, Stuart Redmond. The pair intended to marry once the elder Wendolyn finished his campaign, and when that finally happened in late nineteen fifty-four, a celebration ensued. Clementine's father was now a Washington man and would go on to eventually be elected U.S. Senator in nineteen sixty-four as the last Democrats to represent Mississippi until his daughter succeed him. Likewise, Clementine married Stuart and become a Redmond, moving to the southern part of the state to his own family home. Once her family began traveling between Mississippi and D.C., she left the family home and returned to law school at Ole Miss. There, the astute woman continued to fall in love with her charming and well-connected husband, joining his family in maintaining a number of buildings and land in and around New Orleans. They enjoyed their company and their families knew each other slightly, leading to an encouraged pairing from both of their respective mothers after they married and continuing after they had four children.
The pair returned the Wendolyn mansion following a few years and once both were graduated, they decided to permanently make their new home there. The pair also began managing two homes, being a few inherited properties in Jackson's historic neighborhoods as well as the Redmond's family estate near the coast. They remained prosperous throughout their lives, donating to a number of political causes and building deep political roots with Mississippi's political & evangelical class. Both never did aspire to political office, despite the Wendolyn family tradition to seek election, and Clementine went on to a fairly successful legal career as a financial and corporate attorney for a number of local businesses in the state as well as for larger companies in the South, particularly in larger cities in Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia. Stuart, on the other hand, became a contract lawyer and oversaw lots of both private and public business in his tenure. They eventually began to attend a number of events for the upper class and wealthy of Mississippi and Alabama, gaining a reputation as a down to earth and enjoyable pair to be around with, despite their increasingly religious values and political views. This was mostly caused by Clementine's novel interest in a number of popular pastors and orators in the evangelical scene, often being a financial patron to them and offering them political opportunities through her father.
Eventually, in the late seventies, a vacant seat in the 3rd U.S. Congressional District provided a unique opportunity for the Redmond's. On one hand, Stuart did not want anything to do with Washington and enjoyed the observer role in politics instead. And his fundraising and donations also helped him actively influence state policies. But Clementine had slowly become more radicalized by the Christian right across the state and with Ronald Reagan providing a newfound world view for her, of the West against the radical liberal changes in the nation, she found herself exploring the opportunity to run in the primary. After a bit of a discussion turned brief fight between herself and Stuart, it was decided that given their children off to college and gone, it would perhaps be a good thing for Clementine to switch up her career. Maybe it was a bit of a midlife crisis but nonetheless, with the support of her father, she filed for the primary election. And with the name recognition that came from being the daughter of Mississippi's U.S. Senator, she handily won the race and went on to join the congressional delegation. During her time in the House, she became an ardent defender of unborn lives, targeted welfare abuse, supported early efforts for I.D. laws, and sought to expand U.S. foreign engagements.
By nineteen eighty-one, her father had begun to suffer from an aggressive form of cancer and soon was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. This revelation led to questions about whether the elder Wendolyn would run for office or even continue serving. The answer came in later that year, when he announced his decision to retire from office, leading to a need for an appointment to replace him for a brief one year term. The then-Governor of Mississippi was immediately forced to make a decision as the leader of the state, with pressure to appoint a strong successor for Wendolyn and his values, with closed door meetings arguing between a number of candidates. Eventually, after a number of influential conversations between local Christian groups, pastors, and a plea by allies of Clementine, she was appointed December thirty first to finish the rest of the term. Her tenure in the Senate has been similar to her House reputation, supporting anti-Roe v. Wade legislation and pass national abortion limits, while also supporting relaxation of adoption procedures. Likewise, Redmond has advocated for gun bills like allowing Amtrak passengers to carry firearms in baggage and expand sporting exceptions related to firearms. She has put forth sexual assault death penalty institutions, the protection of Christian imagery and references in federal materials and at federal buildings, as well as ardently preventing a secular humanist from joining the Chaplain Corps.
Despite a favorable record in the Senate and being an avid bill writer and a Christian champion, Clementine has also faced her own kind of controversies. She came under fire for not acknowledging her family's wealth built on slaves and initially refused to apologize for her ancestors, before donating to local black activism groups. But she was subsequently criticized for the amount, given that she donates almost four-fold more to conservative and Christian political groups. Clementine also was discovered to have attended a segregated elementary and middle school, something her father sought to defend by arguing against federal integration reforms. She has since been quiet about these political issues, though it has been noted that unlike her father's clear small government ideology, Redmond has been more partisan about her inclination to favor a small or big government. Additionally, Clementine's own support for farm grants, land development deregulation, and hurricane policy expansions, while certainly popular in Mississippi and outwardly good, have been attacked as personally benefiting her and her family's extensive property ownership. Redmond won reelection in the 1982 general election by seven points due to close allies shutting down any primary challengers and her own family name proving helpful. She continued her strongly conservative crusade, eventually switching to the Republican Party come 1988. She went on to winning reelection in 1994 by ten points, and again in 2000 and 2006 by well over twenty points each time. She was unchallenged in 2012 and in 2018, she won by over 30 points.
Ideology
While Clementine considers herself a Christian, conservative, and a Wolfist in that order. For this reason, Redmond remains a favorite of the Christian Right and her father's own reputation as a Reagan supporter has bolstered her credentials as a classic southern conservative. She is also openly partisan, supporting ideas sometimes despite obvious pro-big government aspects, if they support her Christian agenda and outwardly conservative views. Wolf was a bit of a surprising candidate for her to support given previous comments in support of sexual abuse justice, yet she had since reversed course. Now, she has defended him through his worst mistakes and lauded his biggest successes.
Other Information
Owns the Redmond and Wendolyn family mansions, maintaining a number of other properties across Mississippi. Clementine also continues to welcome pastors and Christian groups to help develop her policy and support her campaigns.
A woman in GOP leadership?
Best damn joke I’ve heard all day
