A former Miss America is running for Congress as a pro-choice – and anti-Trump – Republican in North Dakota

There’s an anecdote from North Dakota dating back about 15 years that perfectly sums up both the culture of the state – the third-least populous in the mainland US – and the trajectory of one of its most celebrated daughters.

Future Miss America Cara Mund, now 30, was then a tenth grader performing in the capital’s annual Band Night, when throngs of North Dakotans crowd Bismarck for a parade featuring regional high schoolers and community organizations. Mund marched one lap as a percussionist playing the snare drum with her school band; then she dashed to change into an evening gown and sash to march another as Miss North Dakota Outstanding Teen.

A high-achieving only child with a big smile from a family with a generations-long North Dakota pedigree, Mund seemed blessed with a blueprint for small-state-girl-done-good – and within a few years, she’d earned two Ivy League degrees and been crowned Miss America. Now she’s running for Congress in an attempt to become the first woman to represent North Dakota in the House.

“I never wanted Miss America to be my peak in life,” Mund told The Independent. “I wanted it to be the springboard for whatever comes next.”

Lest her successful path belie a penchant for toeing the line, however, Mund is running as a pro-choice Republican who “will not bow” to Donald Trump, she says – in a state that’s more than three-quarters heavily conservative, according to the Pew Research Center. Mund’s ever-present smile shines through in her voice, infused with the upbeat intonations of a seasoned pageant winner; there is a steady steeliness, however, to every word she utters.

Mund excoriated the 45th president with an answer during the 2017 Miss America competition which ultimately won her the