Democrats Need Black Women Voters Now More Than Ever

Turnouts demonstrate that when we are effectively engaged, our work can make seemingly impossible victories possible.

Democratic presidential candidate Juli谩n Castro caused a stir last week when he remarked that it鈥檚 time to change the order of the primary states in presidential elections. The current schedule puts first two of the Whitest states in the country, Iowa and New Hampshire. Neither is demographically 鈥渞eflective of the United States as a whole, certainly not reflective of the Democratic Party,鈥� Castro said.

After that MSNBC , Castro furthered those comments to other media outlets. He told Rolling Stone, if Democrats don鈥檛 elevate voters of color, 鈥�?鈥� To Vogue, , 鈥淲e can鈥檛 go around thanking Black women for powering Democrats to victory all over the country, and then at the same time hold our first caucus and our first primary in states that have almost no African Americans.鈥� Castro also compared the outdated practice of the schedule, which began in 1972, to the Republican suppression of Black votes.

Because conversations and results from the first primaries of the season can make or break a candidate鈥檚 momentum, the concern the presidential candidate raises about leaving out Black women and thereby silencing their voices are valid. Dems have several reasons to rethink prioritizing rural White voters at the expense of Black women voters, because the outcomes can affect the party and the nation as a whole.

As a voting bloc, Black women are loyal and powerful. Turnouts demonstrate that when we are effectively engaged, our work can victories possible, such as the Virginia gubernatorial race and the Alabama senate race in 2017. Our donations and hard work canvassing, fundraising, making phone calls on behalf of candidates have put scores of Democrats in office every election cycle.

Democrats will need Black women voters now more than ever to reclaim the White House.

Castro and others who may share his point of view are not looking to negate rural White voters as an important part of our democracy. However, prioritizing the early input of this demographic leaves out not only Black women voters and potential voters, but also other potential voters across the country.

Including Black women has the added value of being more inclusive to everyone, especially the most marginalized communities.

At least 62.7% of the U.S. population is . Primaries open to large numbers of Black women involve heavily populated states and counties, thereby opening the door to earlier dialogue on nationwide issues relevant to a wide-ranging demographic in those areas. For example, residents in urban centers than rural residents about issues such as affordable rental housing, poverty, crime, and the quality of public schools.

Curiously, the decision to make Iowa and New Hampshire the first primary states did not come during the heyday of Jim Crow in the South. The schedule was put in place in the early 1970s, not long after Black communities were beginning to benefit from the Civil Rights Voting Act, and, as to Rolling Stone, just when 鈥淎frican Americans started voting primarily as Democrats.鈥�

No Democratic candidate has received the nomination since 1992 without .

Democrat鈥檚 fixation with small town America during and since the early 鈥�70s has given rise to a stream of nominees with limited direct urban legislation experience. The only exception: President Barack Obama whose base鈥攆or the state and U.S. Senate offices he held鈥攚as in Chicago.

President Bill Clinton, on the other hand, climbed the political ladder to the White House from statewide positions of attorney general and governor of Arkansas. His personality made it easy for him to connect with Black communities across the nation. However, his policies, , wreaked havoc for generations鈥攕pecifically on Black and other marginalized people who live in urban centers.

Black women have been preserving the integrity of the Democratic platform鈥攖he movement toward diversity and inclusion鈥攚ith their votes for decades. As the party White voters, debates rage over whether the party should be more . Despite being labeled as the in the country, Black women have been of abortion rights and LTGBQ equality鈥攁 steadfast commitment to separation of church and state.

Black women therefore deserve a chance to experience policymaking done with them rather than at them, as well as the right to be involved earlier in the process of choosing who represents the party they loyally support. No Democratic candidate has received the nomination since 1992 without .

What can this actually mean in terms of primary strategy? It means starting with any of 10 politically strategic and more highly populated states that also happen to collectively hold : Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York, North Carolina, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Louisiana. All have a large Black population and five contain at least one of the 20 largest cities in the nation.

Even if starting with the Midwest is a strategic necessity, why not begin the cycle with Illinois? Or with Michigan, where its majority Black cities, Detroit and Flint, can also be a sound option for a diverse early primary. Even Wisconsin is an option, which has a county鈥攊ncluding the city of Milwaukee鈥攖hat contains twice the number of Black people than .

Some analysts claim that Black people only support . If this is true, Democrats may wonder whether there is any real harm in letting the primary season advance before mobilizing Black women. Black women certainly helped Clinton , despite his progressive ideas for economic equality.

They also helped such as Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams in their state primaries, and progressive U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley to Congress. What all of these candidates had was not just the perspective of their racial identity, but the ability to build relationships across political identities while taking the time to engage Black women.

As Avis Jones-DeWeever, an adviser to the Black Women鈥檚 Roundtable, during a 2017 Congressional Black Caucus conference, the far left and centrists alike have been trying to court 鈥淲hite male voters who have not supported the Democratic Party for 50 years鈥� rather than 鈥渨atering the garden鈥� in their own backyard.

No matter the outcome of the primaries, Democrats will need Black women voters now more than ever to reclaim the White House.