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PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATES WHO ARE WHITE MEN IS LOWEST IN LAST 4 ELECTIONS
The faces of change in the American elections
In the 2018 US midterm elections, diversity has become a political movement. Rising out of the protests in the early months of the Trump administration, an unprecedented number of women, people of colour, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates are now running for Congress and governor, according to a New York Times analysis.
The percentage of candidates who are white men is the lowest it has been in the last four elections, data shows.
If she won, Stacey Abrams would be the first black woman elected governor of any state.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn would be Tennessee’s first female senator. And Jared Polis of Colorado would be the nation’s first openly gay man to be elected governor. Scores of others could make history if they win their races.
Long-lasting impact
The efforts of these candidates and others like them point to a major shift in the kinds of Americans choosing to pursue public service through elected office. Their candidacies are likely to have long-lasting impacts on political representation in the United States, though they are unlikely to radically change the overall composition of the House, Senate and governorships.
There are more new faces than incumbents in this diverse cohort of candidates. More than a quarter of all the candidates running this year are female, including 84 women of colour — a 42 per cent increase from just two years ago. There are at least 215 candidates of colour and a record 26 openly LGBT candidates, more than five times the number in 2010.
The identities of the candidates are playing out against the backdrop of an election fuelled by issues of race and gender. A weekend massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue, a Supreme Court confirmation hearing roiled by accusations of sexual assault and a caravan of South American migrants have thrust these issues into the forefront of a charged election.
“There is a sense that our communities are under attack and we are the best advocates for policies that will fight back against those attacks,” said Sayu Bhojwani, president of New American Leaders, an organisation that helps immigrants run for public office.
The diversity is not uniform. Among Democratic candidates, white men are actually a minority, making up just 41 per cent of candidates for Congress and governor this year.
The other side of the aisle looks a lot different: Three in four Republican candidates are white men. In governor’s races this year, there are no black or
There is a sense that our communities are under attack and we are the best advocates for policies that will fight back against those attacks”
Sayu Bhojwani | President of New American Leaders
Hispanic Republican candidates.
Currently, white men make up a third of the US population, but 69 per cent of all governors and members of Congress.
That disconnect looks particularly stark in districts where a majority of residents are people of colour. Democratic challengers in those areas, like Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts, found primary success this year by stressing the importance of identity.
“Listen, I’m not saying vote for me because I’m a black woman, but I won’t pretend representation doesn’t matter. It matters,” Pressley said during a campaign stop over the summer.
In September, Pressley defeated 10-term incumbent Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary for her Boston-based district. She is now poised to become the first black woman to represent her state in Congress.
In redder states, candidates are less likely to make explicit appeals to their identity. But the president’s inflammatory comments on matters of race, gender and sexuality have made discussion of these topics nearly unavoidable.