The 'Clueless' actress and former Fox News contributor, who grew up in the Bronx and went to high school in Bergen County, had announced a run in California's 44th district. She cited the stresses of campaigning and the health of her family in deciding to withdraw from the race.
Stacey Dash won’t make it to Congress.
That’s because Dash, an actress and former Fox News contributor has dropped out of the race about a month after announcing her run.
CNN reports that Dash, whose campaign slogan was “Dash to D.C.,” decided to withdraw her bid for Congress in part because of what she calls “bitterness surrounding our political process.”
Dash, 51, a Republican, confirmed she was running for Congress shortly after CNN reported in late February that she had filed paperwork to run in California’s 44th district, which includes Compton, North Long Beach, Watts and San Pedro and is represented by Nanette Barragan, a Democrat.
“After much prayer, introspection and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my candidacy for California’s 44th Congressional District,” Dash said in a statement to CNN. “I started this run with the intention to address the pressing issues in the district where I live. I hoped, and remain hopeful, that I can assist people living here on the national level. My goal was, and remains, to improve the lives of people who have been forgotten for decades by the Democratic Party.”
I have released this statement on my campaign. It’s not an easy one. pic.twitter.com/HvKuUad48F
— Stacey Dash (@REALStaceyDash) March 30, 2018
Dash, whose memoir, “There Goes My Social Life: From Clueless to Conservative,” was published in 2016, went on to say that “the overall bitterness surrounding our political process” and “rigors of campaigning” and holding office would have a negative impact on her family and “spiritual principles.” When she spoke to CNN last month, Dash attributed her decision to run for office to a higher power.
The actress, who grew up in the Bronx and attended Paramus High School, is best known for her role opposite Alicia Silverstone in the 1995 movie “Clueless,” but in 2014 she became a contributor for Fox News, where her incendiary comments often drew the ire of social media. Among her headline-making moments: the time she called potential victims of sexual assault “naughty” and “bad girls.” Dash also expressed her view that there shouldn’t be a Black History Month and that transgender people should relieve themselves in the bushes.
Dash appeared at the Oscars in 2016 for bit with host Chris Rock in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, following comments she made on Fox rejecting the boycott along with the existence of Black History Month and BET. Rock introduced her as “the new director of our minority outreach program.”
“I cannot wait to help my people out,” Dash said with a smile. “Happy Black History Month.”
Members of the audience and those watching on social media cringed.
In 2015, Fox News suspended Dash for on-air profanity after she used explicit language in comments she made about President Barack Obama. Last year, the cable network decided not to renew Dash’s contract.
In her book, Dash, who has advocated arming more people with guns to prevent mass shootings, talks about using a gun to defend herself from an ex-boyfriend. She says she fired the weapon at the man after he raped her — “A gun saved my life,” she told People magazine.
When her memoir came out in 2016, Dash launched a political website, Dash America, where she called for a return to “Reagan’s Hollywood.”
Under a section of the website proclaiming that women “are attractive and sexy,” Dash said that “hiding our power and our intelligence behind the dumpy and frumpy clothes that so defined the women’s lib movement in our lifetime is damaging to women. And it’s damaging to the country. Our appearance should express our strengths.”
Dash America’s “about” section called the project “the 21st century’s most exciting political movement.” Its website is now defunct.
Dash posted the statement she emailed to CNN on Twitter in a letter that she also posted to her website. The message, which she called “not an easy one,” expands upon her political beliefs.
“I believe we live under a system of ‘Plantation Politics’ which offers people on the lower end of the economic spectrum little more than symbolic gestures instead of true political empowerment and improvement,” she wrote. “The high crime rate, unacceptable high school dropout rate, and decaying infrastructure are all problems that could receive federal attention and funds, but not if we focus on distractions and partisanship instead.”
Dash went on to reference her controversial stances.
“… The real controversy is how decades of government corruption and political disempowerment have created a system where skyrocketing home prices, dirty needles in the streets, and long bus trips to other districts for jobs are somehow considered acceptable by the government officials representing the 44th District,” she said.
A pinned tweet on Dash’s account was still posted as of Friday afternoon, soliciting supporters for donations to her campaign.
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.