The tiredest story in politics

Black voters aren't abandoning the Democratic Party

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The tiredest story in politics is how African Americans are leaving the Democratic Party. The latest version comes from The Assembly with an article titled, “Josh Stein’s Challenge with Black Voters.” The story took everything at face value and never asked the right questions.

The premise of the article is that an all-white top-of-the-ticket presents a problem for North Carolina Democrats who need African American voters to win. The article states, “This year, party elites have rallied not just behind Stein but also Jeff Jackson, Rachel Hunt, and Allison Riggs in their bids for attorney general, lieutenant governor, and Supreme Court justice, respectively. All are white and have Black primary opponents…For a party that heavily relies on Black votes and campaigns as a champion of civil rights, these are not ideal optics. [Former Supreme Court Justice Mike] Morgan argues that the lack of representation at the top of the ticket could hurt Democrats in November.”

Every Democrat I know would like to have more diversity at the top the ticket and last summer they were hoping for it. That’s why so many Democratic leaders encouraged Justice Morgan to run for attorney general. He almost certainly would have had been the Democratic nominee, adding the diversity he says Democrats need. Why did he refuse those overtures and decide to run against a sitting attorney general who had announced his campaign months earlier, was sitting on a massive war chest, and had a sophisticated campaign operation in place? Did Morgan believe all of Stein’s endorsers and donors were going to switch their allegiance to an unproven candidate with no money and no campaign organization in place? If so, why? Was he given bad advice or was he just naive? Those would have been great questions for an article like this one.

Why didn’t the story acknowledge that many of those “elites” supporting Stein are influential African American elected officials or highly respected former elected officials? Stein has the endorsement of Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue and House Minority Leader Robert Reives, both African Americans. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, the only African American Supreme Court Justice, endorsed Stein over her former colleague on the court. Congresswoman Valerie Foushee endorsed Stein and so did Eva Clayton, the first African American woman in history to serve in Congress from North Carolina. Most African American legislators endorsed him along with numerous Black local officials including several sheriffs.

Looking at the African American elected officials across the state, they’re pretty unified in their support of Stein. In contrast, I can’t find any endorsements on Mike Morgan’s website at all. Instead, the article focuses on the grievances of two relatively unknown activists who support Morgan, Dawn Blagrove of Emancipate NC and Collette Alston, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s African American Caucus. Both women believe the Democratic Party takes Black voters for granted.

“How are Black voters taken for granted?” would have been a great question. Governor Roy Cooper appointed the most racially diverse cabinet in history. He appointed the first African American woman to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. The two most powerful Democrats in the legislature are African American. Three of the seven Democratic Members of Congress are Black. One of the two Democratic members of the Supreme Court is Black. Unless I’m forgetting somebody, Cheri Beasley is the only Black woman in history to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from a Southern state.

Speaking of Beasley, if Black candidates topping the ticket is essential for higher Black turnout, why did African Americans in North Carolina in 2022 have the lowest since before Barack Obama’s candidacy? Is there any evidence that more diversity at the top of the state ticket would affect turnout? If so, where is it? My sense is that turnout was low, in part, because the national Democrats didn’t invest heavily in a sophisticated get-out-the-vote effort like they have in every election cycle since 2008.

Finally, the article suggests that Stein is a weak candidate because he underperformed Cooper in his 2020 re-election for attorney general. In fact, Stein has won twice at the same time Trump carried the state, a feat not too many candidates can claim. If anything, Cooper’s victory in 2020 bodes well for Stein. While the attorney general faced a tough Republican opponent in Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, Cooper faced Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, a guy too extreme for the state. Mark Robinson, Stein’s likely opponent, makes Forest look like a screaming liberal. The idea that Black voters are going to put race above their fundamental values and ideas is, I think, a bit racist.

I’m not going to say that Democrats have no problem with African American voters, but they aren’t Josh Stein’s problems. Black turnout in North Carolina has been shrinking since it peaked in 2008 with Barack Obama’s candidacy. Black men, in particular, are not showing up at the ballot box in large enough numbers. Older, culturally conservative Black voters are uncomfortable with some of the party’s more progressive stances around gender and sexual identity. Still, Cheri Beasley received 93% of the Black vote in the state in 2022 and Joe Biden got 92% in 2020.

Some of the problems can be addressed and some can’t, but concerns are overblown and stories overhyped. In 2017, an article in FiveThirtyEight was titled, “Black Voters Aren’t Turning Out For The Post-Obama Democratic Party,” just months after Hillary Clinton secured 91% of the Black vote nationally. In February 2020, Politico titled an article “Democrats underperforming with Black voters,” just nine months before Biden won 92% of the African American vote. And here we go again.

Personally, I’m supporting Josh Stein, Rachel Hunt, Jeff Jackson, and Allison Riggs because I believe they will make the best candidates to win in November. I suspect most Black Democrats will agree with me. More importantly, though, we will almost certainly agree in November. Democrats will get close to 90% of the African American voters because we share a vision of America where diversity is our strength and everyone deserves a shot at the American dream.

While I would love to have a more racially diverse line-up at the top of the ticket, I’m more committed to having a strong ticket. I’m confident Mo Green will be the Democratic nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction and Jessica Holmes will be the Democratic nominee for State Auditor. They will add diversity and strength to a stellar Council of State ticket that will look more like North Carolina than anything the GOP can produce.

And in 2026, we’ll have to read again how African Americans are leaving the Democratic Party.