Rep. Mia Love, who was just sworn in as a congresswoman from Utah, has joined the Congressional Black Caucus,
The Washington Post reports.
Two years ago,
Love told Deseret News that, if elected, she would join the group so she could "try to take that thing apart from the inside out."
Love went on at the time to describe the CBC as "demagoguery."
"They sit there and ignite emotions and ignite racism when there isn’t," Love said. "They use their positions to instill fear. Hope and change is turned into fear and blame. Fear that everybody is going lose everything and blaming Congress for everything instead of taking responsibility."
Love softened her language in her successful 2014 race, but still said change in the group must come "from the inside out."
Most black Republicans opt not to join the CBC, saying the group is highly partisan in favor of Democrats. The last GOP member was former Florida Rep. Allen West, who left office in 2012.
Love is the first black female Republican in Congress and the first Haitian-American.