Youngest GOP Female Senator Ever Talks Faith and the Time Her Girl Saw Jesus During a Tornado

CAPITOL HILL - The youngest Republican woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate is documenting her faith-filled journey in a new book. Sen. Katie Britt sat down with CBN News to talk about the role God has played in her journey from Alabama to the Senate chamber.

If you don't know about Alabama's first female senator, don't worry, you're not alone. "If I ever get the Capitol Police to figure out I work in the Senate, that would be step 1. Still, still to this day, I get stopped multiple times a week to ask to show my ID," Sen. Britt told us.

She now finds herself in the mix with some lawmakers twice her age trying to set policy for America.

Working at the Capitol wasn't always part of the plan. She grew up in Alabama's rural Wiregrass region, and for those unfamiliar, it's an area known for its peanut festival. "I think it's a place where the American dream still lives, where you treat your neighbor as family, where the ideals that make our country so special still exist," Britt said.

When it was time for college, it was "Roll Tide" at the University of Alabama. It's where Britt met her husband Wesley – an offensive lineman for the football team. 

He eventually played for the New England Patriots and the Britts started a family. After his time in the NFL ended, the Britts moved back to Tuscaloosa, and they were there when disaster struck in 2011.

Unrelenting tornadoes ripped through the state, and the Britts were in devastation's path. "In that storm, the helplessness that you feel. Remembering your faith, remembering to rely on the Lord, we were praying. As the storm approached, we could feel it, your ears could feel it, you could hear it," she recalls.

The Britts home was destroyed, but her family was spared. They had friends who passed away in the storm that killed 64 people. 

It was weeks later while driving in the car with her daughter during the cleanup when her daughter asked Britt where Jesus was. It's when she realized why her children had been so strong.

"I pulled over to the side of the road and I'm shaking, and I said, 'Baby, did you see Jesus?' She said, 'Yes, Mama, he was with me and Roro during the 'ro-nato,' her version of tornado. And she said He's been with me but He just left and I want Him to come back, 'Mama tell him to come back.' And it just clicked, here we thought we had done such a good job, we were singing, we were praying. But He was literally with us, and I think a lot of times we need the faith of a child, and she said very direct words 'Mama, doesn't God call you to do hard things?' and I said, 'Yes, sweetheart, yes he does.'"

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It was at that moment Britt realized she wanted to have a bigger impact on the country.

"I know that our nation and the next generation are worth fighting for, and so being in that game is what God called me to do," she said.
 
When Britt decided to run for the Senate seat in 2021, she knew she faced tall odds. She beat out well-known Congressman Mo Brooks, even though he initially had the support of President Donald Trump. But Britt's surging candidacy forced Trump to back her eventually. 
 
Now in the Senate, Britt says she carries all of these experiences with her as she looks to find solutions for the country. 
 
"I believe as leaders we must do something. The rise in rate of depression among our teenagers doubled in between 2011 and 2019. That perfectly coincides with the rise of social media. So we have a simple piece of legislation that's eight pages that says you can't be on social media until you're 13, which is what the social media companies say they do, and between 13 and 17 you need to have parental consent to be on. This isn't a bill that allows you to follow your child around, it just puts parents back in the driver's seat to have the conversation."