Black Voters Could Sway an Alabama Senate Race Rocked by Scandal.
Last edited Thu Nov 30, 2017, 12:47 AM - Edit history (2)
'The volatile Alabama Senate race has generated national headlines with the allegations of sexual misconduct by the Republican candidate Roy S. Moore — and the question of whether Mr. Moore’s white evangelical base will stick by him.
But the outcome could also hinge on another key voting bloc: African-Americans, whose participation in the Dec. 12 election will be crucial if the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, is to have a chance.
Democrats have not won a statewide race here since 2008, and some worry that black voters, who make up more than half of the Democratic electorate, are not sufficiently engaged two weeks before the election. Glen Browder, an emeritus professor of political science at Jacksonville State University who served as a Democratic congressman from Alabama from 1989 to 1996, said that Mr. Moore’s core supporters see the race in “moral and ideological” terms and would be highly motivated to go to the polls. But many black voters, he said, were not equally invested in the race. “I’d say it’s less likely that they will turn out,” he said.
Mr. Jones’s potential — and his potential problems — are evident in Selma, famous for its role in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, and set in the poor, agricultural, and heavily African-American swath of the state known as the Black Belt. The region is a prime target for Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts. . .
“What I’m finding is that the women are not taking it lightly,” Ms. Pettaway said, “because I’m finding there are more women who have been sexually harassed or molested than people realize.”
But in interviews last Tuesday with 10 African-Americans at a strip mall near the Walmart, six of them said they were not aware that a Senate race was underway. . .
National Democratic groups have been considering a late investment in advertising specifically aimed at increasing black turnout. But they are wary of spending any money that would stir up the Republican base. That could lead to targeted spending in areas like black radio and mailers to African-American neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Representative John Lewis of Georgia, the civil rights icon and Alabama native, has campaigned for Mr. Jones. And Representative Terri Sewell, Mr. Lewis’s fellow Democrat and the first black congresswoman from Alabama, recently toured six Selma churches with Mr. Jones and plans on attending other campaign events on his behalf.
But no matter Mr. Moore’s troubles, the Democrats face a serious challenge. The national party has struggled to reignite black enthusiasm in the post-Obama era, and state Democrats are plagued by infighting. Republicans hold all of Alabama’s statewide offices, and some say the power of Alabama’s traditional black political organizations, which once turned out minority voters en masse, is substantially diminished. And the election will be held at a time of peak holiday distraction for voters of all races.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/us/doug-jones-roy-moore-black-voters.html?
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