Friends,
The State Freedom Caucus Network has grown rapidly over the last three years, so we thought it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves to all the new supporters and followers. If you missed our last four emails, we did a short Q&A with:
This week are two of our amazing state directors representing the great states of Louisiana (Connie Hair) and Oklahoma (Nathan Dahm).
Two fun facts about them - Connie earned an expert marksman badge in the military hitting 39 out of 40 pop-up targets during qualification while having casts on both of her feet due to a previous accident. As a state senator, Nathan sponsored a bill to rename a highway after President Trump in Oklahoma. It passed into law and it was the first state in the country to do so. Enjoy!
CONNIE HAIR
What is your role at SFCN? I serve as the Louisiana State Director. This entails helping part-time state legislators with information year round on policy, current events and legislation.
Where are you from originally? Where do you live now? Originally from Louisiana, I moved back home to Louisiana after serving nearly two decades on Capitol Hill, the last 12 on the Hill as Chief of Staff to former Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas. Moving home to Louisiana two years ago was unexpected and welcome! I love my home state and am excited to be a part of the healthy and growing conservative community seeking to Make Louisiana Great Again!
Tell us about your family! And pets! I have extended family living throughout Louisiana, Texas and Florida: parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. When my beloved Yorkie, Babeaux, and I moved back home there were obvious personal bonuses: family, lifelong friends, LSU football and baseball season tickets and all of my extended family now being a short car trip away! Was also thrilled to host a family reunion at my home in the late Summer of 2024 for 54 family members from differing states who had not all been together for, in some cases, decades.
What's the best part of your job? The absolute best part of my job is being part of helping pass very meaningful legislation through our Republican supermajority House and Senate and seeing it signed into law by our recently-elected Republican governor. Spending the better part of the past two decades in Washington, DC, where a moribund Congress has little real impact on things that actually matter to the people who do most of the working, living and paying taxes in America, seeing the legislative process have largely successful outcomes was a welcome change.
How did you come to SFCN? What did you do before? Having worked as a Chief of Staff for a Member of the House Freedom Caucus, I was very familiar with the folks making HFC a successful effort at Congress. When my Member of Congress retired two years ago, Justin Ouimette and Andy Roth, whom I had worked with for years in DC, offered me this opportunity to come home to make an impact in Louisiana. We have had some very surprising results. State Freedom Caucuses have a REAL opportunity because, especially in the red states where the majority of voters are conservative and the majority of their legislators only pay lip service to conservatism, we can make noise and do a lot of truth-telling about what is actually in the bills being offered at the state level. Armed with the facts about what's actually in a bill, legislators and their constituents alike band together to help foster better outcomes. The State Freedom Caucus Network is all about that.
Who or what most shaped your political philosophy/ideology? There are many I could list here from classic to contemporary but a short list of folks I have met and come to know (and read) have had the most impact on my worldview and how you go about making real change in many different capacities: Alan Keyes, Clarence Thomas, Louie Gohmert, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and the late, great Harry Jaffa all make the top of the list. There is also a cadre of rock-ribbed conservative Congressional staff and outside group movement leaders that I've had the honor to meet, work with and argue with over the years who have helped shape my thoughts and principles. God has been very good to me in that regard, crossing my path with great conservative minds along the way who have the faith and heart to keep on pushing, come what may.
Pick One To Answer: Favorite food? Favorite place to vacation? Favorite Book? Favorite Quote? This one's easy to pick: all Cajun food now that I'm back home in Louisiana!
NATHAN DAHM
What is your role at SFCN? I serve as the State Director for Oklahoma. I’m the staffer on the ground working daily with the elected legislators, the grassroots activists, and conservative groups to help us all push and pull united towards freedom.
Where are you from originally? Where do you live now? I was born near Seattle, Washington, spent my early childhood years in Oklahoma, lived overseas on the mission field in Eastern Europe, and have now lived in Broken Arrow, OK for the last 17 years.
Tell us about your family! And pets! My wife and I have a 19 month old daughter and our second is on the way arriving within the next month. By the time my daughter was 9 months old she had already flow over 2 dozen times.
What's the best part of your job? Being the help I wish I had when I was serving as a State Senator. The leftists, moderates, & “leadership” (but I repeat myself) seem to have unlimited help and resources whereas conservatives always seem to be just treading water or on the defensive. My hope is to help the members with the type of assistance I would have appreciated during my 12 years in the Oklahoma Senate.
How did you come to SFCN? What did you do before? I’ve know Andy Roth for years. And I attended the official launch of the SFCN in Georgia. I was a State Senator at the time and had worked with HFC members and other organizations. Before this role I served in the Oklahoma State Senate for 12 years and was ranked the most conservative lawmaker in OK State history.
Who or what most shaped your political philosophy/ideology? Growing up in the formerly communist country of Romania had a huge impact on my views. I saw firsthand the destructive nature of socialism/communism and I hate it with a passion. When I moved back to Oklahoma in 2007 I got very involved politically, mostly because I heard of a true Constitutionalist: Ron Paul.
Pick One To Answer: Favorite food? Favorite place to vacation? Favorite Book? Favorite Quote? Favorite food: There’s a little restaurant on the coast of Greece about 2 hours from Athens in a town called Astros. Every meal I’ve had there was amazing but the chicken schnitzel is one of the best meals I’ve ever had.
Keep fighting,
Andrew Roth
President
State Freedom Caucus Network
P.S. Your help is critical in building out a network of patriots and freedom fighters throughout our nation’s state capitols and in your home state. Please consider a contribution and join us as we work to advance the cause of liberty.