Lana Theis offers no apology or evidence in response to Mallory McMorrow's viral speech

The Republican state senator who launched a completely unfounded allegation that a Democratic colleague supports grooming and sexualizing kids did not apologize or offer any evidence to support her claim Wednesday, despite an enormous national backlash in response to her comments. 

Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, issued a curt but targeted response to Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, who roasted Theis in a floor speech Tuesday that went viral. 

"Sen. McMorrow is not naïve about politics and fundraising. I know that because it took her mere minutes to turn her Senate floor speech into a plea for campaign donations," Theis said in a statement, issued by her reelection campaign. 

"While Sen. McMorrow is on MSNBC preaching to her choir, I’ll keep my focus on Michigan parents, who Democrats are seeking to undermine as the primary decision-makers in the education of their children." 

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McMorrow did appear on a series of cable news channels after her impassioned speech garnered more than 8 million views on social media. During those interviews, she reiterated the same message she delivered to Theis in the Senate: A message of hate and intolerance will not prevail. 

"We have seen this rising trend of hatred and targeting of gay kids and trans kids and Black people, and then they came for me," McMorrow said during an MSNBC interview. 

"It is disgusting and vile. It is a hateful thing for a mother to say about another mother — I am a mom to a 1-year-old. We have to push back against hateful garbage."

Theis, who is in the midst of an increasingly fierce primary race, recently sent out a campaign fundraising email that called out McMorrow by name. Although they represent different areas of the state and have never run against each other, Theis broadly attacked McMorrow with egregious allegations.

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“These are the people we are up against. Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t teach can’t groom and sexualize kindergartners or that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery," the material states. 

A "groomer" is someone who establishes a connection with a child in an effort to ultimately exploit or physically abuse that child. 

That allegation — presented without any evidence among a series of other sweeping claims — expounded on a recent prayer Theis delivered in the Senate. 

"Dear Lord, across the country we're seeing in the news that our children are under attack. That there are forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know," Theis said during the prayer. 

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McMorrow received substantial support from national figures, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and conservative columnist Bill Kristol. 

"A healthy dose of righteous liberal fury," Kristol tweeted, sharing a story about McMorrow's speech. 

Michigan legislators spent far less time discussing her speech publicly, at least on the Senate floor Wednesday. The chamber approved a series of bills broadly related to improving child abuse laws, but no one made any mention of Theis' allegation. 

Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.