One of the more telling aspects of the 2016 Democratic primary was not that Hillary Clinton had a strong following among the African-American community—before Obama became POTUS black people used to jokingly, albeit with affection, call Bill Clinton the first black president—but that many of Bernie Sanders’ followers had no idea of this long-standing relationship. (I knew this would not bode well for the Sanders camp and the frustration it engendered manifested itself in instances of racism I did not expect from fellow liberals. It was both disgusting and heartbreaking, although, admittedly, I felt more of the former than the latter.)
This is particularly important at this juncture in Democratic politics, when there is talk of pushing aside the establishment Democrats in favor of new progressive blood, as we saw with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent upset and the rise of Cynthia Nixon’s gubernatorial candidacy. But here’s the rub: like Sanders before them, guess what sector both of these candidates are lacking support from.
Yup.
So, one has to wonder whether Ocasio-Cortez is or not an outlier and if Nixon can win without the most loyal demo in the Democratic party. And there is already some unrest: despite her impressive and historic victory, some have taken to derisively calling Ocasio-Cortez, “the gentrification candidate” due to the widespread, game-changing support she got from neighborhoods whose demographics have been rapidly changing. (To a brown native NYer like her you know that’s gotta hurt.) And while Nixon has amassed an impressive tally of Hollywood backers and endorsers, she’s not garnering much steam with black folks: she’s at 17% with them, while Gov. Cuomo has a 74% approval rate among African Americans.
As always, “We’ll see”, said the blind man.
[CNN: Cynthia Nixon, Like Bernie Sanders Before Her, Has A Problem With Black Democrats]
