Has the election of Barak Obama to the
presidency enhanced the opportunities for black candidates to be elected to the
House or Senate of state and federal government? According to Susan Page, research editor of
USA Today, the answer appears to be negative, and there has not been much
change brought about by Obama’s election, even though the turnouts for African
American voters have broken records.
Obama’s election in 2008 and his
re-election in 2012 certainly affected the racial politics of this country and
raised the hopes for African American candidates who are seeking higher
political offices. It appears that black
American voters have been inspired by the election results because it has
expanded opportunities for black Americans to have more voice in governing,
says Kamala Harris, who in 2010 became the first African American and first
woman to be elected Attorney General of California. However, since Obama’s election the
expectation that more blacks could run for office, and be elected to higher
state and federal office has not been reached.
According to Page, when Obama was elected
in 2009, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts was the only African American governor
in office. Roland Burris, who is African
American, was temporarily appointed to replace Obama’s Senate seat in Illinois,
but was replaced by Republican Mark Kirk who was elected to office in
2010. Also, in North Carolina, GOP
Governor Nikki Haley appointed Tim Scott, the first black Republican
congressman from the state, to the U.S. Senate when Jim DeMint resigned to
become president of the conservative Heritage Foundation. Scott will run in the 2014 special election
for the final two years of DeMint’s term. The results will determine whether he
will be able to sustain the white vote. Page also suggests, ironically, that
the “Obama effect” has benefitted black Republicans rather than black Democrats. GOP leaders have seized the opportunity with
Obama’s success by providing opportunities for blacks, such as inviting Mia
Love, a small town mayor in Utah, running for congress, to speak at the
Republican Convention, and Florida Governor Rick Scott choosing state
legislator Jennifer Carroll, also a black, as a running mate as Lieutenant Governor
in 2010.
Taylor Branch, author of a history of the
civil rights movement, states that although most Americans prefer not to
discuss race, implying that racism is no longer a factor regarding elections to
office, he still believes that problems that existed fifty years ago, such as
racism and poverty, still persist. Branch says that “we are kidding ourselves
if we think we have gotten over race”.
Steve Rothenberg, of the Rothenberg Political Report, believes that if
Mitt Romney had won, Rick Scott would not have been appointed to the
Senate. DeMint does not share this view,
and insists that race is not an issue.
He states that if a “good conservative African American is running for
the GOP, it is welcome”. On the other
hand, David Bostis, and expert on minority voting, from the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies, states that if race were not an issue in this
country, where you would expect to see more blacks being elected to statewide
office with African American votes would be in the Southern states with large
black populations. However, the Southern
whites are becoming more conservative and Republican, which means that blacks,
with a few exceptions, are not winning state offices.
Furthermore, in the South, most African
American candidates are Democrats and most statewide officeholders are
Republican, and there exist sharp racial divisions. Black legislators in the statehouse and
Congress often represent districts that are mostly minority, making it harder
for black officeholders to win higher office because they represent a
liberal/minority audience, and need more experience with a varied audience
outside their own districts, says David Wasserman, of the non-partisan Cook
Political Report.
Despite all of the obstacles that African
American candidates face as they pursue their goals to be elected to higher
government offices and represent their constituents who believe that they can
best challenge the political parties that impede their social and economic
progress, their exists the belief that the election of Barak Obama is a step
forward, and our ideas about who can win elections and who cannot has changed.
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