Young, black Republican player in the Lou
By Meliqueica Meadows and Chris King
Of the St. Louis American
“No, I don’t hate it. I like it.”
Tiffany Watkins, a young, black, single Republican working on the Jim Talent campaign, who lived for years in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., is talking about St. Louis. The hub of Talent’s senatorial campaign, St. Louis has been her home since January.
“There are some really great opportunities here. The nightlife is nice,” Watkins said.
“I’m single. I just turned 30. I’ve met other black singles here, and when I say this is a nice place to meet people, they say, ‘What?’”
Before moving here, she had visited St. Louis perhaps 10 times, for work (she is a veteran operative for the Republican National Committee).
“When you’re new to a city, you find new things. You have different expectations,” she said.
“There are a lot of things happening downtown that are very exciting. It’s affordable. Traffic is getting worse, but it’s not as bad as other major cities.”
St. Louis is occupied by the enemy, from her political perspective. “But most cities are Democratic strongholds,” she said.
Talent offered her the job as deputy campaign manager last December, when she was working on the governor’s race in Virginia, though she first met him five years ago, when she began working for the RNC. She said Talent has “about 20 folks” working on his campaign staff and shrugged off the importance of her race.
“His staff has had black men and women before me,” she said. “He had a record of hiring folks regardless of their color before me.” Pressed for names of other blacks working on Talent’s campaign, she knew only one name, Angeletta McCormick.
She said she and Talent communicate “a couple of times a week” and at the time of this interview had most recently conferred with him on campaign commercials.
In her tenure with the RNC, she said her focus was on “urban renewal and community development initiatives.” She also worked in the southeastern U.S. to reelect President George W. Bush.
When asked if she is among the great many U.S. citizens who have lost confidence in the president in recent months, she said, “I do support him.” She added, somewhat feebly, “I think his job is tough. It’s not easy to be president.”
Asked why her political loyalties run counter to those of the vast majority of African Americans, Watkins said, “I think there is opportunity for Black America on both sides of the aisle. There is racism on both sides of the aisle. Our issues need to get heard no matter who is in power.”
Republican by blood
“I have been politically active most of my life,” Watkins said, “since about the age of 5.”
Republican politics run in her blood. Her parents, Joe and Stephanie Watkins, are both stalwarts of the Republican Party.
In fact, when she was about 8-years-old her father made a bid for Congress. She helped with the campaign bumper stickers.
“She was introduced to politics full-force during the campaign,” Stephanie said. “She’s a smart girl, strong and talented.”
Joe added that his oldest daughter is “a Christian person, and we’re both very proud of her.”
Her father, a pastor by trade, leads Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest African-American Lutheran church in Philadelphia. Joe said the church serves a cross-section of the community, “from judges to homeless individuals.” He also works for a law firm “on the government-relations side.” Her mother worked in the Small Business Administration as an appointee of President George H.W. Bush.
“My parents are wonderful people. They understand the life. They both worked under past presidents.” (Her father also worked as a community liaison for the first President Bush, as well as for Dan Quayle when he was a U.S. senator.)
Despite her family’s deep and powerful connections to the Republican Party, Watkins credits her career in the party to “divine intervention.”
At a time when she had just lost a roommate, she traveled to Washington to attend a political event with her father, as “a networking opportunity.” During lunch, she was offered outright a job in the capital working for the RNC.
“I had the job in two weeks,” she said. “I didn’t have to worry about finding a roommate. I was able to give two weeks’ notice at work,” she said, supplying evidence for why this was the workings of providence rather than political influence.
Her current boss is an outspoken Christian whose rise to political prominence is strongly associated with the radical, right-wing religious element that has overtaken the Republican Party.
She said she has not attended services at Talent’s church (or found a home church of her own in St. Louis), though she has prayed with her boss. “Sometimes, I’ll say, ‘Sir, I prayed for you today.’ And he’ll say, ‘You want to pray right now?’”
Asked if she thought God was responsible for Talent’s political position, she said, “God does put us in interesting positions.”
Putting aside the mysteries of God for Talent’s public record as a legislator, she said, “Senator Talent’s record has a lot to offer.” Pressed for examples, she said, “I’m not a policy person, so I won’t be able to give you all the good meat.”
She did cite his work with Dr. Michael DeBaun, a world authority on sickle cell disease based at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Talent has often been credited in the American for sponsoring legislation that benefits victims of this disease, which disproportionately affects blacks.
Hunting for other examples of Talent’s legislative efforts on behalf of his black constituents, Watkins cited his co-sponsorship of the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which has passed the Senate.
On that note, Watkins was presented with the NAACP’s report card on legislators, where Talent earned a solid F. As a senator he has voted against a long list of bills that the NAACP deemed in the best interests of the black community and voted in favor of a long list of legislation the civil rights group determined to be against the interests of African Americans.
Watkins was caught by surprise. She said she had never read the report.
Two editors from the American expressed disbelief that a deputy campaign manager trying to sway black voters toward Talent had never researched the NAACP’s verdict on her candidate. The report is released annually and receives national press.
“Republicans always get F’s on those reports, anyway,” she said.
Watkins said she would read the report and prepare a response. Two weeks later, she had not contacted the American with any response to Talent’s failing grade on civil rights.
