Cara Mund, a former Miss America, plans to run for Congress in North Dakota as an independent. Incumbent Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Democratic challenger Mark Haugen are also seeking the seat.

“On the 57th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, I am proud to announce that I am seeking to be North Dakota’s first female in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Mund said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The 28-year-old would need to turn in 1,000 petitions signed by North Dakota residents to Secretary of State Al Jaeger by Sept. 6 to make the November ballot as an independent candidate, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

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 “It would be an honor and a privilege to represent the people of our state in Congress. I am ready to get to work and look forward to putting North Dakotans first,” Mund said.

The seat has been held by Republicans since 2011, and Armstrong won reelection by a landslide margin in 2020.

Mund was crowned Miss North Dakota in 2017 and became the state’s first Miss America titleholder later that year.

In 2018, Mund said she had been bullied and silenced by leaders within the Miss America organization. Following the comments, the head of the organization’s board later resigned.

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Mund has said that her time as Miss America inspired her to be involved in public service. She graduated from Harvard Law School. She called her law school graduation a “launching pad for what I hope to accomplish next.”

Prior to her crowning as Miss America, Mund served as an intern for Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven.

In 2019, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed Resolution No. 3035 to honor Mund. She was also inducted into the North Dakota Bluebook’s “Notable North Dakotans” and recognized as one of “Five Women Who Changed North Dakota’s History.”

Last year, the North Dakota State Museum debuted an exhibit featuring Mund.