Black women have been the backbone of the Democratic Party for decades. We have saved the party at critical times and have little to show for it. In the last presidential election, we showed up nearly 90% strong. The party leadership has ignored criticism of their racial and gender biases, and now it’s all coming to a head. It’s shake-up time.
Tired of being sick and tired, some Black voters, elected officials, and candidates are shaking up the Democratic Party, along with their Latino allies. Black women are leading the way. The faithful Black Democrats are looking for fighting public servants, not self-serving politicians without spines. They are seeking leadership outside the status quo box. The box contains safe, centrist candidates who’d rather be labeled electable than transformative.
The party elites don’t seem to know what to do with the recent victories of progressive and democratic socialist candidates. They see the wins as a mutiny, instead of the cleansing of old ideas and practices that have stunted the growth and expansion of the Democratic Party.
In 2022, Stacey Abrams ran for governor of Georgia for the second time, losing to Republican Brian Kemp. Four years earlier, she came within 1.4 percentage points of defeating Kemp. Many Black voters and political analysts felt her loss lay at the feet of her own party.
Black women candidates had already proved their strength at the ballot box in 2018. Dozens ran for Congress, even as relatively few initially received backing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s coveted Red to Blue program for competitive races. Ayanna Pressley defeated a longtime Democratic incumbent despite establishment support for her opponent. Lucy McBath and Jahana Hayes won their primaries, received DCCC backing and went on to win in November.
Black and qualified, these female candidates have proved they can run effective campaigns and raise big dollars. Val Demings raised $72 million in her race against Marco Rubio, who raised $47 million. These candidates don’t get the early institutional and financial boost from the party. Some end up losing by a few percentage points, which makes the loss even more frustrating. The party’s biased lens doesn’t put these capable women on the DCCC’s coveted “Red to Blue” lists to receive priority attention. This is unacceptable.
The concern is not just about active support for candidates. State and local Democratic committees have complained for years about the lack of funds to run robust voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns. Black media outlets like the St. Louis American are often overlooked for the big campaign dollars. Midterm elections are projected to rake in a record $12 billion for political advertising alone.
The Democratic bureaucrats should not fear leaders such as Angie Nixon and Keisha Lance Bottoms. Nor should they attempt to isolate the likes of Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. These women are bringing a fighting spirit and focus to a working-class agenda that has been lost over the years.
The Democratic bureaucrats must seriously address the criticisms of their racial and gender prejudices. Dems have been tone-deaf to the voices of a loyal demographic who are struggling under Trump and the MAGA monsters. The persistent assaults on our civil liberties and human rights have the country on the brink of authoritarianism. The world economy is trembling with uncertainty.
The road to the midterms could be more optimistic if the Democratic Party had a plan that was fueled by its mission to fight unconditionally for the disenfranchised and the marginalized. The future will determine whether the Democratic Party can unify internally and provide the bold, unapologetic leadership this political moment demands. Nov. 3 is a critical stop on the journey to rebuild democracy; it’s not the destination.
Jamala Rogers is an opinion writer and one of the founding members of the Organization for Black Struggle, based in St. Louis.