Could This Be A Sign Of The Tide Turning As Republicans Appeal More To Black Voters Going Into 2016
This midterm election, Republicans not only took over the House and the Senate, but they also made history with Black Republicans Mia Love, Tim Scott, and Will Hurd.
An African-American woman has been elected to Congress as a member of the Republican Party for the first time. Yes, you heard me, this is not a misprint or typo. Her name is Mia Love, she is a 38-year-old former small-town mayor, electrified conservatives in Utah with her promise to take on “the Godzilla that we call the federal government” and won in the state’s fourth congressional district.
“This is a great night for our nation. It is especially a great night for Utah,” Ms. Love told supporters. Referring to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Mormon Church, she went on, “Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black, Republican, LDS woman to Congress. And guess what? Not only did we do it, but we were the first to do it.”
She will join Tim Scott, the first elected African-American Senator from South Carolina, as one of just three African-American Republicans in Congress. The Democrats count 43 members in their current Congressional ranks.
This may be very instrumental in the Republican Party’s trying to capture more of the black vote in the upcoming presidential race. BW reported in October that potential presidential contender, Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who recently delivered the keynote address at an annual New Jersey NAACP conference for the first time in five years, realized just how important the black vote is.
In 2012, President Obama won 93% of the black vote. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in that year, for the first time, African-American voters cast ballots at a higher rate than whites.
Mrs Love’s journey to Washington is an interesting tale, to say the least. Born in New York to Catholic parents who had immigrated from Haiti just two years earlier. Love comes from a hardworking family who saved money and eventually moved on up to the east side, I mean, Connecticut.
After university, Mrs Love converted to Mormonism and began working as a flight attendant before moving to Utah. There she met Jason Love, a white Mormon man. Their first date was at a gun range, and three months later, they were married. The couple has two daughters and a son.
Then six years on the city council before becoming mayor of a small but growing city of Sarasota Springs. A Haitian-American who converted to Mormonism wins in Utah, just the kind of story Republicans love to tell: how faith, family, and hard work led to success, without ever turning to the state for help along the way. That makes her a Republican Rock Star.
Republican Tim Scott became South Carolina’s first elected black senator Tuesday night with his victory over Democrat Joyce Dickerson. Scott is no stranger to the halls of Congress, though — he was appointed to the Senate in 2013 when then-Senator Jim DeMint resigned to lead the Heritage Foundation. With his Election Night win, Scott becomes the first popularly elected black senator in the South since Reconstruction.
Scott’s win also made him the first African-American in U.S. history to be elected to both the House and the Senate.
Many African Americans have felt the Democratic Party has taken their vote for granted for years. The Republicans who have been getting crushed by Democrats in the race for black votes for years see this as a prime opportunity to reach out to the black voters. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who have been discussed as potential 2016 contenders, have all publicly acknowledged they will go after the black vote.
In addition to Love and Scott, Texas, pro-life congressional candidate Will Hurd won his race, unseating Rep. Pete Gallego.
Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri said, “We have a truly historic result because Will will be the first Republican of African-American descent from the state of Texas since Reconstruction to represent our state in the House of Representatives.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden congratulated Hurd on a “hard-earned victory.”
“Will ran a fantastic campaign that focused on the issues Texans care about. Will truly has dedicated his life to helping his country and this is yet another proud chapter,” Walden said. “I’m honored to call him a friend and colleague.”
If the 2014 Midterm Election of Love, Scott, and Hurd are early markers to what we can expect in 2016, Democrats should be concerned. Democrats who traditionally counted the black vote as a certainty for years will have to step up their game to keep it. Let’s be clear, the Black Vote is still the Democrats to lose, but with the Republicans reaching out more to African-American, the possible shifting of control in Congress and the emergence of the Independence Party and others as an alternative to shift things in either direction, depending on how the wind is blowing, the Democrats have some work ahead of them.
“The question remains if these candidates are just symbols without substance, that the Republican Party is NOT inherently racist, or is the party gaining the support of Blacks as it did after President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Time will only tell,” said BW Publisher Damon K. Jones in closing.
