Black women boosting Dems
In Alabama Senate election, 98 percent voted for Doug Jones
WASHINGTON — Once again, black women showed up for Democrats, with nearly all of them voting in Alabama for new Sen. Doug Jones, just as they did for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot in other states over the last few months.
The same women, having proven their loyalty by voting 98 percent for Jones, now wonder whether the Democratic Party will return the favor by sharing some of the party’s political power, handing over places at the negotiating table and pushing legislation that speaks to their unique issues.
“Black women showed up and showed out,” said Kimberlè Crenshaw, co-founder of the African American Policy Forum. In “any other context, people who get it 98 percent right, they’d be at the head of the class. It’s time for black women to be at the head of the political class.”
Black turnout was also high, at around 30 percent, according to exit polls.
That level of support mirrors what black women did in Virginia, where 91 percent of them voted for incoming Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, and in New Jersey, where 94 percent voted for incoming Gov. Phil Murphy.
Those women also swept other candidates into office, including Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, the first black candidate to be elected statewide in Virginia since Gov. Doug Wilder in 1989.
“Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because #BlackWomen led us to victory,” said Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted. Period.”
In the 2016 presidential race, 94 percent of black women voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.