Mindy Meyer: Not Your Father's NY State Senate Candidate
For Mindy Meyer, the pinker, the better.
July 24, 2012 -- Mindy Meyer may not be "Legally Blonde," but she is taking a page from Elle Woods's playbook - the pinker, the better.
The 22-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman is running for New York state Senate in the 21st district in Brooklyn, and promises to "utilize her religious values and moral compass as her guide." She's running against 10-year Democratic incumbent Sen. Kevin Parker, but it's her pink, bedazzled website set to the tune of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" that is garnering her campaign the most attention.
"The website's goal was to captivate the younger audience, to show them that politics could be contemporary and exciting," Meyer said.
Meyer says pink is her favorite color and that she was inspired by Elle Woods - the character played by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 movie "Legally Blonde."
"If Elle Woods could take pink to Harvard, why can't I bring it to the Senate?" Meyer said.
Beneath the hot pink and leopard print text on her website, mindymeyer4senate.com, the self-proclaimed "Diva of the District" takes a stand on a host of issues like education reform and unemployment.
On her website, the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center student vows to fight corruption and crime, advocate for school choice, and stop the "hunger games" caused by unemployement in her district -- a reference to the popular teen novel by Suzanne Collins.
Despite the hot pink blazer and blinged-out podium featured on her site, Meyer isn't afraid to be tough when it comes to attacking her opponent.
"[Parker's] been in the Senate for 10 years. I feel like he wasted his time in the Senate," she said. "I went out and spoke to people, and they don't know who he is. You know why they don't know about him? Because he doesn't care about them."
Sen. Parker's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
And Meyer isn't camera shy - she can be seen posing with a copy of the Constitution, talking with a young girl and dressed up as the main character of the "Hunger Games" novel, Katniss Everdeen.
Amid the media attention around her untraditional campaign has come criticism about her seriousness and her qualifications.
"If the only thing negative you can say about me is that my website is pink and it's not red, white and blue and it doesn't put you to sleep, then I think I'm all right," Meyer said. "When I actually go out there and campaign, they will see that I'm serious and informed."
Meyer is the candidate for both the Republican and Conservative party tickets, and her website promises that she will "utilize her religious values and moral compass as her guide."
"I can tell you one thing, I have no experience in corruption," Meyer says on her website. "This is how politics has to change. There is always corruption, but I have the intention to follow my values and ensure that none of what happens in my district is corrupt."