{"id":263605,"date":"2021-05-31T18:12:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T15:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/black-womens-next-targets-governorships-and-senate-seats\/"},"modified":"2021-05-31T18:12:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T15:12:02","slug":"black-womens-next-targets-governorships-and-senate-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/black-womens-next-targets-governorships-and-senate-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"#Black women\u2019s next targets: Governorships and Senate seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Black women\u2019s next targets: Governorships and Senate seats<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

ATLANTA \u2014 Jennifer McClellan remembers her parents\u2019 recounting life as Black Virginians enduring segregation and the trauma and triumph of the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n

It showed her that government can be \u201ca powerful force for improving people\u2019s lives\u201d but also one \u201cthat oppresses some, ignores others.\u201d<\/p>\n

A generation later, despite her interest in public office, there was no obvious pathway for someone like her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere weren\u2019t a lot of role models \u2026 examples of Black women\u201d in power, said McClellan in an interview. Now, she\u2019s a 48-year-old state senator running for governor herself: \u201cWe\u2019re in a very different Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClellan\u2019s candidacy alongside fellow primary candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy demonstrates the rising political power of Black women, long a foundation of Democratic victories, and more recently, as candidates and officeholders, <\/p>\n

McClellan\u2019s candidacy alongside fellow primary candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy demonstrates the rising political power of Black women, long a foundation of Democratic victories, and more recently, as candidates and officeholders, from Vice President Kamala Harris to mayors in Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.<\/p>\n

McClellan and Carroll Foy, a 39-year-old former legislator, are trying to break another barrier by becoming the first Black woman to win a governor\u2019s race in any state. They are decided underdogs to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia\u2019s June 8 primary. Yet they\u2019re nonetheless part of a surge in candidacies by Black women not just for local and legislative posts but also statewide offices that are still new ground for Black women.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are normalizing Black women\u2019s leadership (and) seeing Black women on every ballot so that it\u2019s second nature for voters,\u201d said Glynda Carr, co-founder of Higher Heights for America, which backs Black female candidates.<\/p>\n

In addition to Virginia, two Black women are running for U.S. Senate from North Carolina in 2022: former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and former legislator Erica Smith. In Florida, U.S. Rep. Val Demings is running for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio\u2019s seat. In Georgia, voting rights activist and former legislative leader Stacey Abrams is expected to make a second run for governor in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"
United States Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote address for the United States Naval Academy Class of 2021 graduation and commissioning ceremony held at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, 28 May 2021. <\/figcaption>
EPA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steve Schale, a white strategist who helped President Barack Obama win Florida twice, said it\u2019s a developing consensus that Black women can assemble Democrats\u2019 ideal alliance for statewide elections: older Black voters, younger voters across racial and ethnic lines, urban white liberals and enough white moderates, especially women, in metro areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the next step post-Obama,\u201d Schale said. \u201cThey can rebuild that coalition as well as anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Virginia candidates say Black women are right for the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am tired of fighting the same fights that my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents fought, and I cannot leave that to my children,\u201d McClellan recalled thinking when she watched the video of George Floyd, a Black man, dying under the knee of a white police officer in Minnesota last year.<\/p>\n

\"Chief
Chief Justice Cheri Beasley tours Tryon Palace with other members of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in New Bern, N.C. Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Beasley is expected to make an announcement about the U.S. Senate race, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carroll Foy ties her biography \u2014 graduating from Virginia Military Institute and working in low-wage jobs and as a public defender \u2014 to her political strategy. \u201cThere\u2019s intersectionality \u2026 coming from one of the poorest communities in Virginia\u201d and selling policy ideas to all working- and middle-class voters, she said in an interview.<\/p>\n

In addition to no Black woman serving as governor, only two have been elected to the U.S. Senate, and the chamber has none now. The next goal, Carr said, is for Black women to match their voting power to their representation.<\/p>\n

Congress began this year with a record 25 Black women out of 435 House members. Black women are mayors in seven of the 100 most populous U.S. cities, up from one less than a decade ago. The number of Black women in state legislatures has nearly doubled in two decades, to more than 4%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can celebrate,\u201d Carr said, \u201cbut still recognize the work that needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the least, strong campaigns from Black women so early in the midterm cycle stand out compared to previous years.<\/p>\n

\"Georgia
Georgia Democratic candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks at his Labor Canvass Launch at IBEW Local 613 on January 05, 2021 in Marietta, Georgia. <\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2017, as Georgia\u2019s Abrams was preparing for her first bid for governor, white power brokers in the state party recruited one of her fellow state lawmakers, a white woman, to run against her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should have been ashamed,\u201d said Karen Finney, a prominent Black Democratic consultant and Abrams ally. \u201cShe proved them all wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abrams trounced her hand-picked primary opponent and came within 55,000 votes out of 4 million cast of defeating Republican Brian Kemp. Soon after, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer courted her to run for Senate. She declined but recruited the Rev. Raphael Warnock. Warnock, a Black man, won his January runoff by 2 points, a wider margin than his white colleague, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, managed in a parallel contest.<\/p>\n

Heading into 2022, Georgia Democrats are uniformly ceding the top of the ticket to Abrams, who is publicly mum but expected to run.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe proved you don\u2019t have to follow conventional wisdom,\u201d McClellan said.<\/p>\n

National Democrats have followed suit in Senate recruitment and endorsements. Senate Democrats\u2019 campaign arm app<\/a>ears intent on being much more deliberate about endorsements in the 2022 cycle, rather than publicly anointing preferred candidates early.<\/p>\n

\"
Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Cheri Beasley, center, swears in Presidential electors of North Carolina\u2019s Electoral College as they gather to cast their votes at the State Capitol Building in Raleigh, N.C.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Going into 2020, the committee backed North Carolina Democrat Cal Cunningham, a white moderate, over other contenders, including Smith. Cunningham, who admitted to an extramarital affair in the campaign\u2019s final month, lost by 1.8 points, or nearly 100,000 votes. Beasley, then the sitting Supreme Court chief justice, lost her reelection bid in the same general<\/a> election by just more than 400 votes.<\/p>\n

Finney cited her focus group research that found white women becoming more open to backing Black women. Black female candidates, she said, can leverage public frustration with dysfunction. Voters \u201csee women as collaborative leaders, and women of color are not seen as part of what\u2019s already broken,\u201d Finney said, even if they\u2019ve held office already, because they are \u201cnatural outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beasley and Demings, Finney added, carry potential advantages hailing from the criminal justice establishment: Beasley as part of the judiciary, Demings as a former Orlando police chief. So, Finney said, it\u2019d be harder for Republicans to caricature either as \u201cextremist\u201d or \u201cradical.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Virginia, McClellan and Carroll Foy describe their candidacies as progress, with caveats.<\/p>\n

Carroll Foy has endorsements from Higher Heights and EMILY\u2019s List, which champions abortion rights. She\u2019s raised in the millions, though not at pace with McAuliffe, a prodigious fundraiser since his days as President Bill Clinton\u2019s 1996 reelection co-chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obvious the structures in place aren\u2019t made to have a woman of color run for and win the executive position,\u201d Carroll Foy said.<\/p>\n

\"
Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) waves during a campaign event at Legend\u2019s Field October 20, 2008 in Tampa, Florida.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McClellan said voters beyond the political class are \u201cready for someone with that different perspective,\u201d while many insiders still believe \u201cif there\u2019s a white man in the race, you have to wait your turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, McAuliffe is running with plenty of Black support. Among his campaign co-chairs is the highest-ranking Black member of the General Assembly, Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas.<\/p>\n

She credited McAuliffe with genuine outreach to nonwhite communities and said she \u201cgoes back three decades\u201d with the 64-year-old Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about all of the Black and brown women running for offices all over this nation,\u201d Lucas said. \u201cThis is no slight to any of my sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the 77-year-old senator implicitly questioned whether Black women can win a general election in Virginia. \u201cRather than speculate,\u201d Lucas said, \u201cI would prefer to say I believe Terry is best situated and suited to win.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Black women\u2019s next targets: Governorships and Senate seats” ATLANTA \u2014 Jennifer McClellan remembers her parents\u2019 recounting life as Black Virginians enduring segregation and the trauma and triumph of the civil rights movement. It showed her that government can be \u201ca powerful force for improving people\u2019s lives\u201d but also one \u201cthat oppresses some, ignores others.\u201d A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/black-women-politics-18.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[107869,70363,71126,4937,71609],"class_list":["post-263605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-31-21","tag-civil-rights","tag-politicians","tag-racism","tag-womens-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}