News
Elected Black
Republicans Not
Expected to be a Plus for
the Community
By Freddie Allen,
NNPA Senior
Washington
Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
– Black Republicans made
history during the midterm
elections in November by
winning in Texas, South
Carolina and Texas, but
political analysts wonder if
Morris. “The obvious
impact for Republicans is
positive only to the extent
that it shows visually, if not
substantively, an outreach to
minorities.”
Scott earned an “F” on the
NAACP’s legislative report
card during the first session
of the 113th Congress from
January 2013 – December
26, 2013.
her politics are or what her
party affiliation is, if Love’s
story doesn’t inspire you,
then there is something
wrong with you as an Amer-
ican citizen,” said Jackson.
Former
congressman
Allen West (R-Fla.) said
that the Republican Party
has to remind Black voters
that the conservative princi-
ples and values of the GOP
The Black community shouldn’t expect much
from the Black Republicans during the next
legislative session, because they won largely
without Black voters
the victories will have any
long-term impact on the
future of the GOP in the
Black community.
Traditionally, Black can-
didates running for elected
offices not only need a large
Black turnout, but also a
majority of the Black vote
to win statewide and nation-
al races.
Senator Tim Scott made
history by becoming the
first Black Republican
elected to serve in both the
United States House of Rep-
resentatives and the United
States Senate. He won with
just 10 percent of the Black
vote and 82 percent of the
White vote, according to
exit polls.
Representative-elect Will
Hurd beat his Democratic
challenger Pete Gallego in
Texas by a narrow 2.1 per-
cent
margin
in
a
predominately
Hispanic
congressional
district
(House District 23) to
become the first Black
Republican from Texas
elected to the United States
Congress since Reconstruc-
tion.
When the next congres-
sional term begins, Mia
Love, a Black Mormon and
daughter of Haitian immi-
grants, will represent Utah’s
4th House district in a state
where Blacks account for
just 1.3 percent of the total
population.
Lorenzo Morris, a politi-
cal science professor at
Howard University in
Washington, D.C., said that
the Black community
shouldn’t expect much from
the Black Republicans dur-
ing the next legislative
session, because they won
largely without Black vot-
ers. In addition, he said,
their rank as freshmen law-
makers will limit their
influence within the party.
“Their collective impact,
if they are really outspoken,
will just be on the plus side
of zero, barely zero,” said
ThinkProgress.org report-
ed that Scott proposed a bill
in 2011 to block families
from receiving food stamp
benefits if one of the adults
in the home joined a strike,
and as a state legislature
Scott supported cuts to
South Carolina’s HIV/AIDS
budget.
In a 2012 speech, Love
accused President Barack
Obama of “pitting us
against each other based on
our income level, gender,
and social status” and said
that, “His policies have
failed.” Love has also
pledged to take the Con-
gressional Black Caucus
“apart from the inside out.”
If they continue to express
views counter to those held
by the Black electorate that
overwhelmingly supported
are quite consistent with the
history of the Black com-
munity.
“When you go back and
read Booker T. Washing-
ton’s writings at the turn of
the century, his remedy for
the Black community under
the stress and strain of seg-
regation and Jim Crow laws
were three points: educa-
tion, entrepreneurship and
self-reliance,” said West.
“When you look at each one
of those individuals Senator
Tim Scott, Representatives-
elect Mia Love and Will
Hurd, that’s what they rep-
resent, and those are the
three things we must have
conversations about in the
Black community.”
West compared the over-
whelming loyalty that Black
voters have for the Demo-
When the next congressional term begins, Mia Love, a Black Mormon and
daughter of Haitian immigrants, will represent Utah’s 4th House district in a
state where Blacks account for just 1.3 percent of the total population.
income inequality similar to
the way a moderate Democ-
rat would. In short: the
candidate would have to be
a liberal Republican.
“It would take a miracle
for a Black Republican to
win a majority Black dis-
Jackson used a basketball
analogy to describe how the
Republican Party can con-
tinue to win with candidates
like Tim Scott, Mia Love
and Will Hurd.
“You have to understand
the strengths and the weak-
Tim Scott, a Mia Love, a
Will Hurd in to speak. You
can’t send them every-
where. You have to
understand what their mes-
sage is to best utilize them.
That’s what has to be done.”
Jackson added: “Just
‘It would take a miracle for a Black Republican
to win a majority Black district’
Lorenzo Morris, political science professor
at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
trict,” said Morris.
Still Raynard Jackson said
that the additions of Scott,
Hurd and Love will help the
party, if they are properly
utilized.
nesses of each player and
you have to know when to
put them in the game and
when to sit them down,”
said Jackson. “You have to
understand when to bring a
because they’re Black,
doesn’t mean you throw
them out there to a Black
audience.”
‘The obvious impact for
Republicans is positive only to
the extent that it shows visually,
if not substantively, an
outreach to minorities’
President Obama with more
than 90 percent of their
votes in back-to-back elec-
tions, Morris said, that their
presence could actually hurt
that visual image of minori-
ty outreach, because it will
further distance the GOP
from the politics that are
overwhelmingly character-
istic of Black voters.
Raynard
Jackson,
a
Republican strategist and
the president and CEO of
Raynard Jackson & Associ-
ates, called Love, “the
embodiment of the Ameri-
can Dream” and said that
her journey as a first gener-
ation Haitian immigrant to
become the first Black
Republican female ever
elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives is amazing.
“It doesn’t matter what
cratic Party to an investor
that puts all of his eggs in
one basket. Just like an
investor shouldn’t put all of
his money in one fund or
one venture, West said,
Black voters should also
diversify their political cap-
ital.
“The people in these
majority-minority districts
are going to have to look up
and say, ‘Why are we still in
this situation? Why do we
continue to elect the same
person and nothing is get-
ting any better?’” said West.
Morris said that if a Black
Republican wanted to sway
Black voters in any signifi-
cant way, the candidate
would have to talk about
social policies and pro-
grams in ways that are open
and address issues such as
January 7, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 7