America’s First ‘Goth Baddie’ Congresswoman? Meet The Unorthodox Conservative Winning Over Unaffiliated Voters

A Republican congressional nominee is embracing the internet’s viral designation of her as a conservative “Goth Baddie,” hoping it will inspire young people to enter politics and persuade older voters to look beyond the tattoos and piercings.

Kelly Dennison, the 27-year-old Republican nominee for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, told the Daily Caller that if her campaign accomplishes one thing, she hopes it encourages more members of Generation Z to run for office.

“I really hope if my campaign accomplished one thing, I would hope it would be to inspire more Gen Zers to step up and run for public office instead of b*tching all the time,” Dennison told the Caller.

The “Goth Baddie” label, now splashed across her campaign merchandise, originated with a cheeky meme Dennison shared online. The post suggested that if the outdated practice of electing politicians who only pretend to care about their constituents is no longer working, perhaps it is time to “appoint a goth baddie who represents the voters’ interests.”

After Dennison won the Republican nomination in late June, social media accounts began taking notice of her alternative aesthetic, sharing viral posts asking how a goth woman could be not only conservative but also actively engaged in Republican politics.

JUST IN: 27 y/o massage therapist Kelley Dennison wins the GOP nomination in Colorado’s CO-02 — setting up a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. pic.twitter.com/EL7tMysVJG

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 1, 2026

Although Dennison could not predict whether Congress would ever see a goth counterpart to the Democrats’ young “Squad,” she noted that younger Americans have embraced more “unorthodox aesthetics in public spaces.”

“It could be really cool if Congress was filled with goth people,” she said.

Dennison said she hopes voters will look past the tattoos, gauges and dark eyeliner long enough to hear her ideas. She recalled overhearing a delegate at the Republican convention whisper, “I’m not gonna vote for her because she is wearing those crazy eyelashes.”

“I just kept thinking to myself, like, I just gotta get up on stage, and they have to hear me talk about my ideas, and hopefully that will break through the initial judgment,” she told the Caller. “Outside appearances are not that important if you have good ideas.”

It worked.

Running on a blend of traditional conservative and populist policies, Dennison defeated another Republican candidate for the nomination. She said her opponent was more concerned with political image than serving Colorado voters.

Dennison will now face Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Neguse in the general election.

Neguse has consistently voted with Democratic leadership, supporting legislation tied to the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. He also served as a House impeachment manager during President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.

Dennison described her parents as “boomer JFK Democrats” who were initially less than enthusiastic about her aesthetic. They have since become highly supportive of her campaign, joking that she would be the first Republican they had ever voted for.

Although she was raised as a Democrat, Dennison said she began moving toward the Republican Party during the 2016 election as she entered adulthood and concluded that the increasingly radical left was doing little to improve life for her or other Coloradans.

“The Democrat principles I was raised on don’t pay my bills, and they don’t make my life easier,” Dennison said. “And that sort of just shifted my consciousness politically.”

A few years later, she made another life-altering decision by fully committing herself to her “Christian walk.”

She frequently uses her artistic work to explore her relationship with God. One self-portrait depicts Dennison sinking beneath the water in place of the apostle Peter, whom Christ rescued after he began to doubt while walking on the Sea of Galilee.

Dennison said the painting was an honest depiction of how she does “not always trust Christ perfectly” and begins to sink when she loses focus on Him.

She was enduring a difficult period in her life at the time, Dennison said, and eventually decided, “I gotta put this shit down and hold on to Jesus.”

Dennison said she has always been artistic, pointing to her tattoos as one expression of that creativity. Last year, she participated in an art residency in France, where some of her work remains on display in a museum.

She is also an entrepreneur who operates her own massage therapy practice, which she described as her true passion. Dennison said she does not want to remain in politics forever and cited that belief as one reason she supports congressional term limits.

Dennison said she decided to run only at the last minute after concluding that none of the existing candidates appeared concerned about the issues affecting the people they claimed to represent.

Her campaign merchandise declares her “America’s Goth Baddie,” but also describes her as “Colorado First.” Dennison said her priority is representing the interests of her home state while remaining committed to the country as a whole.

Dennison described Colorado’s spirit as “untamed,” reflecting the state’s “untamed beauty.” She said everyday Coloradans possess a highly libertarian streak and argued that the state is not uniformly blue. Instead, she said, many voters will support anyone with good ideas and a genuine desire to improve their lives.

She has embraced positions on affordability, environmental conservation and pro-family policies, arguing that while none of those positions are radical, each is crucial to everyday Coloradans.

The Republican candidate said her personal motto is “Colorado first, America always, freedom forever,” and that she wants to see her home state prosper.

She hopes voters will give her the chance to help make that happen this November.

AUTHOR

Derek VanBuskirk

Reporter

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