POLITICS
These two freedom-loving groups claim to promote liberty, but in very different places
Citizens Defending Freedom and Moms for Liberty don’t share everything in common
There’s a new group in town, some are saying, spreading a message of faith, discovery, and CFO services (read Jack Jenkins’ really good article in Religion News for more). This rhetoric soars until it crashes into a field of certified public accounting rules and the realities of local organizing.
Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF) is the latest organization to establish a spoke-and-wheel structure to centrally manage local politicking on a range of hot button conservative issues. Its promise to “PROVIDE materials for home school families” is what first drew my attention, but CDF also claims that chapters in 100 counties will address corruption, school curricula, and “breaches of constitutional liberty.” It’s at 20 active chapters, so it’s got a way to go.
Nevertheless, the organization — just a couple of years old at this point — already takes credit for Nueces County, TX ending its sex education classes, Miami-Dade County introducing a Day of Prayer in public schools, and Lake Wales, FL for creating “Responsible Fatherhood Month.” Its chief opponents, not surprisingly, seem to be the NAACP, George Soros, and Walt Disney.
This should all sound familiar.
These have been the obsessions of another group that’s been in the news lately, Moms for Liberty, which also launched in 2021 close by another Florida county.
Both groups seek a national network of county-based chapters opposed to trans rights and sex education and supportive of book bans and putting the Bible into public schools. CDF National provides information services, media, legal, and, of course, CFO services. Local CDF chapters focus on elections, education, faith, and Matthew 18 — a 4-step process of conflict resolution that begins person-to-person and ends with legal action against pagans and tax collectors.
Moms for Liberty’s aim to build local chapters has so far been more successful than CDF: Moms for Liberty is approaching 300 chapters in more than 40 states, while CDF has established many fewer in just three states (Texas, Georgia, and Florida).
The relationship between the two similar groups, though, is a bit unclear. CDF notes several partners, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, Turning Point USA, and America’s Future, but Moms for Liberty is not on the list.
The county-based structure does, however, give us a glimpse at the territory the two groups share, at least in those three states where CDF now operates.
In Florida, for example, each organization has flourished: Moms for Liberty has 33 chapters across counties in the state; CDF has 7, with several more apparently ready to launch soon. In 6 of those 7 counties CDF operates, Moms for Liberty also has a Florida chapter. The northern Florida county of Nassau is the only county in state where CDF has established a presence, yet Moms for Liberty has not.
In Texas, the situation is a little different: both groups have nine chapters operating today, but CDF counts an additional 5 nearing a launch. Additionally, CDF has chapters in several of the largest counties in Texas where Moms for Liberty isn’t active. For example, in Texas’s three largest counties — Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant, accounting for over 10 million people — CDF has a chapter, but Moms for Liberty doesn’t.
In Georgia, the situation is even more extreme. Moms for Liberty has a chapter active in just two counties: Hall and Oconee. CDF, however, has chapters operating in three with another 10 seemingly on the way soon. In no Georgia county are the two counties both operating.
What emerges from this pattern of chapter growth is two groups with much in common, but with very different bases of power. At this point, Moms for Liberty can claim a truly national role: active with county-based chapters in 43 states. CDF remains a player in just a handful of states and, even in those states, the number of chapters remains small relative to Moms for Liberty.
On the other hand, CDF’s position in Texas, one of the largest states in the country, is something that Moms for Liberty can’t match. This suggests real political power and influence for CDF in state and local affairs in Texas.
What happens next for these two groups remains unclear. Though Moms for Liberty would seem a rising power, recently demanding the attention of Republican candidates for office, their recent electoral success has been anything but impressive.
In Wisconsin’s latest school board elections held in April of this year, Moms for Liberty endorsed 27 candidates across the state; just eight of those candidates won their election. In Illinois and Oklahoma, the situation was worse: Moms for Liberty didn’t back a single winner in either state.
