Communities of Color Delivered for Democrats, It’s Time That Democrats Deliver for Them
By Sonja Diaz and Nick Gonzalez
For decades, Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American communities have been seen as shoo-in votes for the Democratic Party. All the while, they have borne the brunt of economic recession, intensifying climate change, and systemic racism and violence that was amplified under the Trump administration. Now they are bearing the worst impacts of COVID-19. Yet, in a year marked by intersecting crises, communities of color, once again, turned out in historic numbers to deliver the winning margins to help Democrats take back the White House and win key congressional races. And nowhere was the opportunity and power that lies with voters of color made more clear than in Georgia.
While voters of voters of color have consistently turned out for the Democratic party in reliable voting blocs, misguided perceptions towards voters of color have left us with election cycle after cycle of underinvestment and willful neglect. States like Georgia and Arizona, however, demonstrate what is possible, however, when electoral efforts are focused on the expansion of the electorate through investment in and engagement of voters of color. In Arizona and Colorado, where Latino voters were 24% and 16% of eligible voters, respectively, Latino voters helped flip two U.S. Senate seats blue with margins of victory less than 10%. In Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, Black and Latino voters make up a combined 41.5% of the population and were key to flipping the District blue by a margin of less than 3%. Black and Latino organizers and voters delivered these key Democratic victories. And if Democrats hope to retain these voters and continue winning elections, it’s time to begin prioritizing these blocs for engagement now. This means not just throwing out buzzwords every four years they think will resonate with communities of color, but by creating substantive policy agendas that center their needs.
The every four-year spotlight on non-white voters misses the true opportunity to engage electorates for the everyday work of policymaking that keeps them engaged and loyal for future election cycles. This cycle’s historic turnout, in the middle of a global pandemic, widespread economic struggle, and protests over racial injustice are an opportunity for a political reset.
Nationwide, communities of color delivered key swing state victories to Biden. In key cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia, where Black voters make up a majority of the population, Black voters turned out in force. In Arizona, Latino and Native American votersprovided the razor thin margin necessary for Biden to flip the state blue for the first time since 1996. And we cannot forget Asian American and Pacific Islander voters whose turnout increased by 20% since 2016 and whose participation in early and absentee voting increased by 300% — more than any other group. It was this diverse coalition of young and old voters of color, who comprised over 33% of the 2020 electorate — not John Kasich or Cindy McCain — who delivered Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada for Biden.
Yet, instead of political pundits questioning how Democrats can keep that coalition engaged while working to expand its numbers, we are seeing them opine on the need to engage the same white voters who doubled down on their support of a racist President and his failed leadership in responding to COVID-19. Ultimately, white voters increased their support for Donald Trump from 54% support in 2016 to 57% in 2020.
With the election called, the real question is if Democrats will finally wake up and make better bets on a winning coalition. Will they see this cycle’s historic turnout, in the middle of a global pandemic, as a floor or a ceiling for electoral engagement? If it’s the former, they must commit now to making the year-round investments needed to engage these communities around policy issues and agendas that speak to their priorities.
On January 5, we will get a glimpse into whether Democrats have learned their lessons from two consecutive cycles of prioritizing persuasion over expansion in the two Georgia Senate runoff races. The Democratic Party invested billions of dollars trying to persuade white voters with no tangible results, while communities of color carried Democrats to victory with a fraction of the resources. Communities of color delivered the presidential election to safeguard our democracy. Now it’s time for Democrats to deliver for these communities’ future by ensuring voters of color and their needs are front and center in the Georgia runoff.
Sonja Diaz is the founding director of UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (UCLA LPPI), and Nick Gonzalez is a policy fellow at UCLA LPPI.
