The Obsession With White Voters Could Cost Democrats the Virginia Governors Race

[RandySF]

Rather than heeding last year’s wake-up call, Democrat’s continue to perpetuate this pattern of structural racism and implicit bias. Take the upcoming election in Virginia—a quadrennial political bellwether because it takes place the year after each presidential election. Smart electoral strategy should be predicated on empirical evidence and hard data, and the data in Virginia clearly illuminates the path to victory for Democrats. In off-year elections, turnout usually drops dramatically, lowering the threshold needed to secure a majority of the vote. Current Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe won the governor’s mansion in 2013 with about 1.1 million votes. It is the presidential elections that show the true size of the pool of progressive voters, and Clinton won nearly 2 million votes in Virginia last year. According to the exit polls, 53 percent of the Virginians who supported Clinton—1,047,518 voters—were people of color. That’s more than all of the people who backed the 2013 Republican gubernatorial nominee, Ken Cuccinelli, whose campaign garnered 1,013,354 votes.

The racial myopia in the Democratic ecosystem is revealed by analyzing how money is spent by campaigns and how money is given to campaigns. On the spending side, campaign allocations reflect a candidate’s true priorities. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Democratic nominee Ralph Northam has spent over $17 million as of October 1, 2017. Logically, if a majority of the target-voter universe consists of people of color, a campaign that wanted to win would spend a majority of its money trying to get those voters to the polls. But the Northam campaign’s biggest line item—nearly $9 million—consists of funds given to an advertising firm led by an all-white board to run television ads. These campaign ads attack the Republican nominee for his ties to the oil company Enron. What is the strategic rationale of such an advertising campaign? Clearly, those ads are not supposed to motivate African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and other people of color to take time from their busy lives to come out and support the Democratic ticket.

Meanwhile, organizations specifically focused on mobilizing black voters—who comprised 37 percent of all Virginia Democratic voters in 2016—have to practically beg, borrow, and steal for resources to engage the voters who form the cornerstone of Democratic politics. BlackPAC, New Virginia Majority, and other community-based organizations have managed to gather enough resources to conduct a $1 million black-turnout program, but that’s just a fraction of the $8–10 million that should be allocated to reaching black voters, based on their numbers and centrality to Democratic victory.

Another indication of limited cultural competence in campaigns is the failure to take advantage of the fact that the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor is an African American, Justin Fairfax. From Harold Washington’s Chicago mayoral campaign in 1983 to Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, it has been shown that having a candidate from one’s community, particularly when that community bears the brunt of inequality, can be a motivating factor in increasing voter turnout. Given this, progressive donors and groups across the country should be showering resources on Fairfax’s campaign and featuring his face in campaign ads. Instead, Fairfax must be repeating to himself the words of the protagonist in Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”



https://www.thenation.com/article/the-obsession-with-white-voters-could-cost-democrats-the-virginia-governors-race/

[Proud liberal 80]

1. Yes

They waste there time with voters who aren’t going to vote for them anyway, while ignoring and energizing people who would vote for them

[guillaumeb]

2. The obsession with the much desired "Reagan Democrat".

With no thought to the fact that many Reagan Democrats were white workers who liked Reagan's thinly veiled racism.

[FSogol]

3. That article is total BS. Anyone who has seen a Northam or Herring ad would notice they are

targeting women with an emphasis on young women and women of color.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. That was my impression

I spent 10 days in Virginia recently. Northam was targeting women and Gillespie was targeting fear.

Gillespie was running more spots, at least in Williamsburg, where I was.

[renegade000]

17. Yup, mobilization of voters from the more diverse and densely populated areas in VA

is why we have control of all the state-wide offices. That's basically the model pioneered by Tim Kaine (a former civil rights lawyer). I guess we need to be more strident about it for all the out-of-staters though...

[marylandblue]

4. I just donated to BlackPAC

I don't mind chasing disaffected white voters, but black voters are the Dems most loyal constituency, and we need serve their needs.

[SunSeeker]

7. Exactly. Reagan Democrats are not our base.

We must fire up OUR base. And THE most loyal Dem voters are black women. The best use of our activists' time is attacking barriers to voting so our base can vote. Pandering to Reagan Democrats will only depress the vote of our base.

[GulfCoast66]

8. And as a white southern guy it pisses me off to no end that it is just Black Women...

Because so many Black men cannot vote since they have a felony conviction for offenses that were designed to make sure they had felony convictions. And could not vote

Jim Crow did not die. He just got more creative.

I hope that is not the case in VA. But in too many states it is the sole reason Republicans rule the south.

[SunSeeker]

11. Yup. That is the systematic racism being protested by the NFL players taking a knee. nt.

[maxrandb]

6. The Nation

Works for Putin.

They have lost all credibility. It's almost as if Roger Ailes moved from Faux News to the Nation.

Nothing but story after story with the goal of depressing Democratic turnout at the polls.

[rufus dog]

15. And two posters upthread who must live in the area

say the ads target woman and woman of color.

We all have bias, it appears that the writer of the article has a bias and is looking at something that isn't there.

For example, the Orange Shitstain saw good people on both sides. He didn't see a white mob with torches marching onto a campus (without a permit BTW) he just saw white people marching. Because he is a racist he couldn't see the problem. Now if he saw black people marching with torches, he would see the problem. Point being, bias can make people really friggen stupid.

So for example, I see your Browns helmet and see a person that would stick with something he or she believes in until death. You may be a complete turd, but first impressions lead me to a bias based upon something as simple as a gif file.

[FSogol]

16. Lately, there's been a whole slew of crap articles trying to

Divide us. The Nation article is pure bullshit.

[RhodeIslandOne]

9. The picture in the article showed mostly women

I see no issue.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. Here's an article a few days old that says otherwise

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/356488-dems-aim-to-boost-black-turnout-in-va-gov-race

I guess it depends on which you choose to believe.

Obama was just there. Since he's half white he must have been playing to white voters.

[SunSeeker]

14. Good article on the great work of BlackPAC. nt

[standingtall]

12. The article has a faulty premise

People of color due not make a single race. The article says 53% of Clinton voters were people of color. Which means that 47% of her voters were white it would also mean that whites make up the largest number of raw democratic votes when compared to all other races individually. If the article meant to say the obession with getting white republican voters could cost the democratic Governors race I would agree,but shouldn't be generalized as whites without distinction. Still Democrats do need to do more to get minorities to the poles as well as look for ways to increase turnout from urban whites.

[JI7]

13. The nation ?

[Tobin S.]

18. The left and the Dems need each other, but we can't figure out how to get it together.

So you get unhelpful stuff like this from the left where they actually seem to be working against Dems in a race where they should be trying to support them just due to the fact that Dems are much closer to them ideologically than any Republican will ever be. There is no compromise even when it seems like it's in the best interest of everyone to do so. They are tone deaf. Then they ramp it up with all of this politically loaded language and heavy slant that distorts what is really happening.

I would like to see the Democratic party swing back to the left economically to where it was before Reagan came along. We have politicians in the Democratic party who have gone back to those roots and I think we should support that kind of thing. That's what the left should do as well instead of working against us. And there are some powerful people in our party who need to loosen up some and let these kinds of politicians through. So many Democrats are living in absolute fear right now of any more losses that they don't appear to want to endorse the kind of politicians that might actually appeal to more people because they think they are too risky. Despite that these politicians already have great appeal to their already established base. What do we have to lose at this point? We are right now on the verge of losing everything the party has fought for since FDR. Ironically, if it weren't for three moderate Republicans in the Senate who seem to be with us at this point to some degree, it would probably mean the wholesale destruction of everything as fast as possible. As it is we are still taking losses almost every day.

I was talking to an old school, white male, liberal Democrat today. The guy is about 65 years old. He is also a priest. He is more conservative socially than the younger liberals now days. He's not really on board with a lot of the very liberal social upheavals going on right now, but he has always stuck with the party due to economic issues and government social programs. So I was talking to him about Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ stuff, and the distortion of religion in politics, and he's not really hip to any of that and doesn't really care about it. Those just aren't his issues. Then I mention these ideas about the Democratic party moving back to the left on economics and shoring up social programs and he's all ears. We start talking about the profound effect that Reagan had on politics and how he just swung everyone to the right on economics. He's been an opponent of the trickle down theory since the beginning, and understands full well that it doesn't work for ordinary Americans, actually hurts them, and only creates more economic inequality. He is aware of the power of money in politics and how that can corrupt the political process and negate the interests of the people.Those are the kinds of things that I think most people respond to the best when talking liberal policies. It's our old school economic stuff. We lost our way on that and I think that's why many people have abandoned us. We should have held firm when Reagan came along and stuck to our guns, but we caved.

Those very liberal social issues of minorities are important and need to be incorporated into the party. We do need to make sure those people are represented adequately in the party and promote them in the process. Most other people will come along on economic issues.

[JI7]

22. they aren' the left. they want republicans to win and push the Putin line

there is nothing left leaning about that.

[Tobin S.]

24. Really? Show me.

The Nation is our country's oldest left wing publication. They've been around since the mid-19th century. Did you read the rest of my post?

[tblue37]

19. K&R for visibility. nt

[JustAnotherGen]

20. That's why Obama didn't go there

Oh . . . Wait.

They think black folks will fall for their shtick.

It's October 24, 2017.

The Nation must think we have that chip on the shoulder attitude of "the parties are the same".

It's never been more clear in the 26 years I've been eligible to vote how radically different the two parties are.

[JI7]

21. they are trolling

they don't want democrats to win

[JustAnotherGen]

23. I agree

[BainsBane]

25. Its based on the assumption that white votes matter more

And that white lives matter more. The Democrats are responding to that pressure waged in the wake of Trump’s victory. We are told that Trump voters decisions were not based on race, despite the fact exit polls and post-election survey data that consistently demonstrate otherwise. We see crowds respond to that claim with cheers. In the face of a white supremacist government, the rise of hate crimes, nativism and Nazism, that lie feeds into white (male) entitlement— the fundamental ideology of this era. We see demands for understanding of those Trump voters with abject contempt toward Democrats who are overwhelming single women and people of color. We are told that “economic justice” and “equality” require deprioritizing reproductive rights and civil rights, based on no evidence and despite that fact that undermining those rights generates greater poverty and loss of life. We are told the interests of white voters earning 2-12 times the median income are for “everyone,” with absolute refusal to listen to and even hostility toward the interests of the majority of Americans. That the party may have adopted those arguments and values disgusts me. I only hope the editorial is wrong or that the phenomenon does not extend throughout the country.

[FSogol]

27. It is also total BS as far as the VA race is going. Don't believe me? Go to Northam, or Fairfax, or

Herring's website and watch the ads.

https://ralphnortham.com/
http://www.fairfaxforlg.com/
https://herringforag.com/

You find that their ads are either biographical or are aimed at women. The are reaching for votes of the Democratic base. This is just another article aimed at dividing us.

[underpants]

26. Interesting

Thanks

[alarimer]

28. Northam is making his own mistakes

He (or his people) removed the photo of his running mate, who happens to be black and who also opposed some proposed pipelines, from some fliers. This may not have been racist in intent, but it is certainly bad optics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/reeks-of-subtle-racism-tensions-after-black-candidate-left-off-fliers-in-virginia/2017/10/18/de74c47a-b425-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html

[FSogol]

29. Why the rush to tear down Northam? Justin Fairfax wasn't concerned with being left off of some

literature, why should we be?

Fairfax has been included in all the campaign stuff I've seen.