Does the Rise of Black Conservatives Signal a Turning Point for the GOP? – Opinion

It has often been said that the Republican Party is the “party of old white men.” Indeed, when one looks at the party’s makeup, one can easily see why this moniker has persisted for so many decades. But, the times have changed and things are starting to look different for conservatives.

Newsweek’s Steve Friess wrote an article titled “GOP Bets on Black Conservatives As Key to Victory: ‘We Change or We Die,’” in which he detailed the increasing prevalence of black conservatives running for office as Republicans.

Ten years after its “autopsy” of Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss to Barack Obama concluded that the Republican Party’s biggest problem was its failure to appeal to voters of color, 2022 is shaping up as a breakthrough year for the GOP on at least one diversity front: Black candidates.

The author noted that in several recent races, black Republican candidates “drew slightly larger, potentially decisive shares of Black votes compared to the white Republicans running alongside them for other offices in their states.” This could be an indicator that the GOP might finally realize they can win when running black candidates. The Republican leadership is beginning to believe that they could increase their black vote share if they make an effort.

Professor Leah Wright Rigueur, who teaches political science at Johns Hopkins University, and is the author of “Loneliness of the Black Republican,” Submitted Newsweek: “Some Republicans are savvy enough to understand that if they win 10 to 15 percent of Black voters in state and local elections, they can win—and there are ways to actually do this.”

As things stand now, only three black Republicans are in the legislature. Friess said:

The three Black Republicans now in Congress—South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Representatives Burgess Owens of Ohio and Byron Donalds of Florida—are the largest number to serve simultaneously since Reconstruction. Virginia Lt. Winsome Sears was sworn into office last month. This brings to five the total number of Black Republicans serving in state elected offices. The contrast is that 14 Black Democrats are elected to statewide offices and 55 Black Democrats represent Congress (excludes Washington, D.C., the U.S Virgin Islands).

He also mentioned a large number of black Republican candidates running for office during the November midterm elections. He said:

What’s more, the RNC expects a record-setting number of Black nominees for the House. They may include John James, who joined the race for a new seat in the Detroit suburbs this month after his losing his last Senate bid by just 1.7 percentage points; if elected, he would be Michigan’s first Black Republican member of Congress. Also running in GOP primaries: former Army helicopter pilot Wesley Hunt, the first Black Republican nominee for Congress in Texas in 2020, when he lost by 3 points in a Houston-area district; former Scott legislative aide Shay Hawkins of Akron, Ohio; businessman Quincy McKnight of Nashville; and ex-Trump aide Rod Dorilás, a 31-year-old Navy veteran in Palm Beach County, Florida.

It’s a major step in the right direction of the GOP, the conservative movement and most likely that some people within the party are aware. An extremely high ranking GOP official who is white told Newsweek: “We can’t be the party of white men anymore. There aren’t enough of us. There won’t be enough of us in a decade. We change or we die.”

Some credit former President Donald Trump with the Republican Party’s seeming change of heart in regards to courting black voters. Republican National Committee spokesman Paris Dennard explained that the shift “started with President Trump and how vocal he was about the Black Voices for Trump movement being fully funded and staffed at the campaign.”

Trump is the first Republican president to make an effort to reach black voters since Richard Nixon. The RNC established Black Voices 4 Trump offices throughout his campaign. They were located in 15 cities that have high levels of black population in the battleground states. The offices closed after the election. However, Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the RNC, pledged $2,000,000 last February to open them again. “At least three—now called Black American Community Centers—have already opened, in Milwaukee, Cleveland and College Station, Georgia,” Friess explained.

The failure of the GOP to engage with black voters has vexed many – including myself – because conservatives have important values in common with the black community. Friess said:

Examples: A Pew survey in 2019 found that 49% of Black Americans are against same-sex marital arrangements, while only 32% of whites believe it is acceptable. In a 2020 Gallup study, 54 percent said that they don’t think abortion should be morally accepted. According to a RealClear survey from 2021, 89% of Black Americans support legal immigration restrictions.

I’m cautiously optimistic about some of the trends I’m seeing in the conservative movement. I’ve been advocating for years for the GOP to start taking black voters seriously, and this could be the start of what could be a serious paradigm shift – as long as the party’s leadership is willing to take a long-term approach. It is possible for the right to win black voters. Indeed, Jalen Johnson’s victory in Albany, Georgia, is the template many of these candidates should follow.

But this can’t be the type of situation in which the party gives up after not seeing immediate returns. The GOP took a lot of time to build trust with black communities after stopping courting their votes. Earning it back won’t happen overnight, and Republicans must be willing to persist for the long haul. This is, hopefully, a signal that both the conservative movement as well the ex-Party of Lincoln are finally ready to build that huge tent.