The South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina. (Alex Potemkin / Getty Images)
By Nick Givas March 12, 2026 at 2:38pm
Democratic State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of South Carolina called the parental rights organization Moms for Liberty a “terrorist group” while speaking on the state House floor Tuesday.
“Moms for Liberty? Please! They are a terrorist group,” Cobb-Hunter said, according to a video clip posted to the social media website X by the group.
GOP state Rep. April Cromer interrupted Cobb-Hunter off-screen, calling for decorum in a point of order.
South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith then reminded Cobb-Hunter, “you’ve been here long enough,” yet it didn’t end there.
The South Carolina Democrat doubled down and defended her language, claiming it was acceptable because news outlets and other publications had framed the parental rights group in a similar light.
“And Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to you that what I just said has been widely used in publications, it’s been widely used in a whole lot of arenas,” Cobb-Hunter continued.
Moms for Liberty noted on X that “yesterday, on the 6th month anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a South Carolina State Representative stood on the SC House floor and proclaimed, ‘Moms for Liberty is a terrorist organization.’”
“These are the kinds of dangerous words and labels that get people killed,” the post continued. “We are Joyful Warriors working to defend parental rights and protect children. Moms for Liberty is calling the democratic leaders of South Carolina to condemn her words before the unthinkable happens again.”
Yesterday, on the 6th month anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a South Carolina State Representative stood on the SC House floor and proclaimed, “Moms for Liberty is a terrorist organization.”
These are the kinds of dangerous words and labels that get people killed.… pic.twitter.com/96Eefnbyom
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) March 11, 2026
This isn’t the first public attack launched against Moms for Liberty.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s website refers to the group as an “anti-student inclusion group that presents itself as a modern parents’ rights organization,” adding that it has “not only developed but leveraged its close political alliances and ties to extremist groups to broaden its reach and spread its messages of anti-inclusion and hate.”
Back in May 2023, The Daily Caller published an article about Laura Leigh-Abby and Karen Svoboda who founded a group called Defense of Democracy to combat Moms for Liberty, and cited quotes where Svoboda compared the concerned mothers to members of the Ku Klux Klan.
“We treat Moms for Liberty like the KKK,” Svoboda said. “If you knew that a KKK meeting was happening in a church down the street from your house, everyone would be alarmed, we would be picketing, we would be protesting, we’d have a petition. And that was exactly what we do.”
Nick Givas has been a reporter for The Daily Caller, Fox News, and served as Managing Editor of the Newsroom at Project Veritas. He’s also hosted three different podcasts, served as a Congressional Communications Director, and had his work featured in The Federalist, Daily Signal, New York Post, and Real Clear Politics.
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