Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, Ben Jealous: Breakthru Year for Black Candidates, FL, GA, MD
"As Trump Stokes Racial Tensions, Black Candidates Have Breakthrough Year: Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, and Ben Jealous Bid for Governorships As Democrats Pin Hopes on An Increasingly Diverse Electorate." The Guardian, 8/31/18.
When Andrew Gillum launched his bid for the 2018 governor’s race in Florida, America’s largest battleground state, Democratic party leaders wrote off the 39-year-old progressive mayor of Tallahassee. The party establishment had coalesced behind the former congresswoman Gwen Graham, who over the next 17 months would remain the frontrunner in most polls – while Gillum was poised to finish fourth in a crowded field.
But Florida voters had other ideas: on Tuesday, Gillum pulled off a stunning upset and emerged as the Democratic nominee in what will be one of the most closely watched contests of the 2018 midterm elections. In doing so, Gillum also became Florida’s first black nominee for governor and joined the ranks of other Democrats seeking to make history in a breakthrough year for candidates of color.
Stacey Abrams, a former state legislator, is vying to become the country’s first black female governor, in neighboring Georgia, while Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP, hopes to become the first black governor in the state of Maryland. Only two black governors have ever been elected in the United States.
The success of black candidates comes at a time when Donald Trump has stoked racial tensions from the office of the presidency, teeing up a stark contrast between the two parties in both representation and tone. In addition to people of color, a record number of women, Muslims and LGBT candidates are running for elected office – most of them as Democrats..
Both parties are betting on a surge in turnout as Americans head to the polls on 6 November. Their fate may well be determined by who wins out between an increasingly diverse electorate and Trump’s nationalist base. “Now that you have Trump in office, who is a direct and material and tangible threat to the safety and citizenship and the health and the finances of nonwhite people in America, you have people more driven to engage in voting than they have been in their lifetimes,” said Jason Johnson, a professor of political science and communications at Morgan State University.
Gillum’s victory in Florida’s gubernatorial primary was aided in large part by young voters and African Americans, who turned out heavily in his favor. The results marked the fruition of a strategy rooted in appealing to demographics often discounted in midterms..“From the get-go, it was clear that his strategy was to try to appeal to minority voters and younger voters.”
“There’s been some articulation among black candidates and black activists that the Democratic party was taking them for granted and just assuming they would vote.” Gillum campaigned on college campuses and at black churches, and was the only Democratic candidate to show up at an NAACP forum in Tampa just over a week before the Florida primary. He garnered support from black activists.
“African American voters are starting to realize the importance of non-presidential elections and really stepping up the involvement in terms of turnout and advocacy,” said Jamal Watkins, the vice-president of civic engagement for the NAACP. “That’s a game-changer.”
The push among minority voters to expend their political capital was not simply about representation, Watkins added, but issues that range from job security to access to healthcare and education. Gillum, Abrams and Jealous campaigned on unapologetically progressive platforms and earned the coveted endorsement of the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
All three candidates backed Medicare-for-all and raising the minimum wage and touted policies geared toward reducing income inequality. They built a coalition spanning nonwhite, young and white progressive voters, reminiscent of the strategy that twice helped propel Barack Obama to the White House.
“You don’t get 76% of the Democratic primary vote just because you got black people excited about you,” said Johnson, citing Abrams’ landslide victory in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary in May. “You get that because you put together a collection of voters who see you not just as a representation of their values, but also who see you as someone who can win.” The legacy of Obama, he added, paved the way for candidates of color who might otherwise have been ignored. -MORE, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/30/andrew-gillum-stacey-abrams-black-candidates-trump
From Left, Ben Jealous of Md., Stacey Abrams of Ga., Andrew Gillum of Fla.
= new reply since forum marked as read
... because that would be racist.
Support them because they are Democrats and the best choice on their respective tickets.
women and minorities of the Democratic kind, candidates like these who fit the bill.
I attended the historic Inauguration of Gov. Doug Wilder (D) of Virginia, the first African American governor (1990) since Reconstruction, 1872, Pinchback (R) of Louisiana. Mohammed Ali was there which was also very special.
https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/l-douglas-wilder