How tea party is Mia Love?

So apparently, some tea party conservatives were not happy with Rep. Mia Love's (R-Utah) vote for John Boehner for House speaker. Her backing of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) amid his scandal also rankled some on the right:

This is fromThe Shark Tank, a conservative blog:

The Twitter/blogger backlash prompted Love to weigh in on her vote. She explained her vote in an e-mail to theWashington Examiner:

There were no qualified or notable campaigns for speaker within the Republican Party other than John Boehner. Casting a vote for a candidate who has not actively campaigned and does not have the support to be speaker is an indirect vote for Nancy Pelosi, and I will not vote for Nancy Pelosi. There will be a time and a place for me to stand as a lone voice of dissension, but the vote for the speaker, is not that place. For me to be an effective congressman over the next two years it is important for me to be on the side of the elected speaker.

Love has dealt withthe tea party question since she ran in 2012. In that race,some tea party-style conservatives backed her primary opponent--among them, Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R). And astory by The Salt Lake Tribunedetailedhow the city's budget and property tax rate went up when she was mayor of Saratoga Springs.

At the same time, she did get an endorsement from FreedomWorks,a national tea party group,and was seen as a rising star.

In 2014, she nabbed the endorsement of the Tea Party Express. They cited her fiscal responsibility and opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Yet, at some point, during the race, she seemed toreject the tea party label,which again drew some scrutiny. Love said she wasn't rejecting the tea party, but rather the concept of labeling more broadly.

It's also true that Love's rhetoric from 2012 to 2014 changed a bit, even as her policy positions remained fairly constant. Her comments about the Congressional Black Caucus, for instance, were very strident in 2012 and less so in 2014. And she angered some conservatives when she questioned the tea party driven government shutdown in 2013 overObamacare.

And yet, it seems the "official" tea party (whatever that is) counts her as one of their own.

From a currentteaparty.org headline.

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How tea party is Mia Love?

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