By the end of February, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign was in tatters He had lost badly in the first caucuses and primaries, arriving in an embarrassing fifth in New Hampshire Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders soared Biden and his centrist and watery message did not seem in tune with the country It was fading
He had long hoped to win the primary in South Carolina, with his large numbers of African-American voters There the wily Congressman Rep James Clyburn, a veteran of civil rights battles, failed discouraged by Biden’s early failures A moderate, Clyburn believed Biden, and his focus on kitchen table values like employment and healthcare, was a winner
After keeping his powder dry, Clyburn finally threw his support behind the besieged Biden and urged his fellow South Carolinians to do the same
Clyburn delivered Biden roared to victory in Palmetto State, thanks to overwhelming support from Blacks, and within two weeks was the favorite to win the nomination
On Saturday morning UST, Biden finally grabbed the prize, when TV stations declared him president-elect Amid endless scans and upcoming post-mortems, one thing is indisputable: Biden must once again thank the African-American vote – not just in spirit, but in the actual turnout that placed him in the White House
From Milwaukee (Wisconsin) to Detroit (Michigan) to Atlanta (Georgia) and ultimately Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), urban black support for Biden and Kamala Harris was the deciding factor, reclaiming the states that Hillary Clinton had lost in 2016 and, in Georgia’s case, becoming a red-blue state The last time Georgia became a Democrat in a presidential election was for fellow southerner Bill Clinton in 1992
More than young people, unions or educated commuters, African Americans are the Democratic Party’s most trusted voters
« The truth is that once again it is the African-American voters, the Blacks, who must mobilize and save our democracy There is no more loyal and reliable electoral bloc in the country, ”Antjuan Seawright, Democratic South Carolina strategist, told the Washington Post « And if you look at when we run, we win the election »
This is not just rhetoric According to the Post, exit polls showed 87% of African American voters supported Biden – 91% of them black women, long the most trusted Democratic constituency
This is not news; in fact, it was the lighter-than-expected black turnout in Detroit in 2016 that lost Michigan to Clinton But as the postal votes were counted this week, it became clear how critical African Americans were to Biden’s victory.
Whatever the end result in Georgia (where a recount is already on the cards), its status as a battlefield state is a remarkable development Much of the credit goes to Stacey Abrams, a former state official who has registered hundreds of thousands of new black voters over the past two years
Abrams was fueled in part by the apparent voter suppression involving his own run for governor of Georgia in 2018 Byzantine rules were used to close polling stations in black neighborhoods and thousands of voters were removed from registration lists – an echo of Jim Crow’s election laws that prevented black southerners from voting for almost 100 years until the 1965 Voting Rights Act
Abrams lost the governor’s race by less than 2% and has since been dedicated to expanding and protecting the voting rights of African Americans in the state
Since 2018, Abrams has helped register 800,000 new voters in Georgia.Half of them are under 30, and 45% are people of color, who are predominantly Democrats
Abrams was once considered a running mate for Biden Now she will be instrumental in bringing out the Black vote again in what is shaping up to be not one but TWO second-round elections for Georgia’s two seats in the US Senate, which will decide whether Democrats can take control of the chamber
It will be a very tough fight, but don’t count Abrams and African-American voters in Georgia just yet Like Clyburn in South Carolina, they don’t back down from a fight and they know what’s at stake
Joe Biden, Democratic Party, National Public Radio
World News – AU – Larry Hackett: How Black Vote Was Crucial to Joe Biden’s Victory
Associated title :
– Larry Hackett: How African American turnout was crucial to Joe Biden & victory
– Rep James Clyburn’s comments on race relations under Biden’s presidency
