After Harris's defeat, state victories show a new direction for Black politics

While most observers of Black politics will focus on the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris, we should not neglect a silver lining to be found in the states.

Since the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Black political arena has been largely restricted to municipal and congressional districts with a sizable Black powerbase. Candidates have encountered a longstanding barrier of race in the quest for state-wide representation.

Even with the unexpected dominance of Donald Trump in the presidential race, this election produced an unprecedented number of Black statewide campaigns that overcame historic obstacles to power.

Since the end of the Obama presidency, a lingering question in the Black community has been what political goals should its leaders pursue. As I have suggested before, with anxiety high over a second Trump presidency, the answer may be to accrue power in states with active Black voting communities. In particular, to consolidate political and economic capital in a Black-led polity in five states of promise — Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. The states, after all, govern the most important aspects of Americans’ everyday life.

First, a shout-out to Maryland, which is arguably the new capital of Black America with the election of Angela Alsobrooks to the Senate. She joins Gov. Wes Moore and Attorney General Anthony Brown in the only state with three major elective offices held by representatives of the Black community.

The “Maryland Model” networks a united Black voting bloc across urban, suburban and rural districts. Most candidates seek to reconcile the community interests of men, women and children in policy initiatives, rather than pit one against the other. Elements of the model could be a template for other states with conditions favorable to such coalitions.

The Maryland Model’s latest achievement is the campaign of Democrat Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince George’s County. Alsobrooks leveraged a statewide Black voting bloc to defeat the popular and well-funded Republican former governor, Larry Hogan. Although she relied on base turnout — the state’s nearly 30 percent Black population — she also built a coalition of supportive voting blocs in suburban white women, organized labor, students and other interest groups.

Less high profile, though just as effective, was the Senate campaign of Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware. The four-term member of Congress was able to leverage Delaware’s favorable Black demographic conditions to good results — the state has a nearly 25 percent B lack population that can provide a reliable power base. The community support enabled Rochester to focus on building a diverse coalition. The 62-year old politician will become the first Black person to represent Delaware in the Senate. Only three Black women have ever served in the Senate.

In Alabama, two Black candidates for Congress emerged triumphant on the basis of strong community turnout. Shomari Figures flipped a former Republican seat to become only the fourth Black member elected to Congress from the state since the Reconstruction Era. Figures, a native of southern Alabama, worked in the Department of Justice in the Obama and Biden administrations. The district was redrawn by a federal court to provide equal representation to the state’s growing Black population of over 25 percent. His victory, along with Birmingham’s incumbent representative Terri Sewell, will provide the state’s Black community with two voices in Congress.

North Carolina voters rejected two Black candidates for statewide office, a Democrat and a Republican. Jessica Holmes, the incumbent state auditor, was edged out by Republican Dave Boliek. Holmes, an attorney, was appointed auditor last November by the outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper. She attempted to become only the third Black elected to statewide office in North Carolina — where Blacks comprise over 20 percent of the state population — and honor the first Black elected statewide, Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr., who made history in 1992.

Then there is Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the firebrand GOP candidate for governor. Elected in 2021, he is the first Black politician to hold that office, and only the second ever elected statewide. His campaign was badly damaged from an onslaught of negative press reflecting his propensity for flippant, insensitive statements on gay rights, abortion, antisemitism, civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. and slavery, among others. He was handily defeated by Democrat Josh Stein, the current attorney general, who will become state’s the first Jewish governor.

Outside of the South, Black candidates for statewide office had mixed results. In Vermont, one of the whitest states in the country, Democrat Esther Charlestin, an educator and working mom, was trounced by incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott.

In Nebraska, Democrat Preston Love Jr., an Omaha community organizer, was badly beaten by Republican Pete Ricketts in a special election to complete the term of former Sen. Ben Sasse. In Washington, however, Democrat Nicholas Brown defeated Republican Pete Serrano to become the state’s first Black attorney general.

Despite the sting of the Harris defeat, the 2024 elections introduced an expanded field for Black political influence. Looking ahead, the challenge for Black leaders will be finding ways to maximize the leverage of their community in coalitions for state governance.

Candidates may want to consider the advice of Julius Nyerere, the 1960s Pan African strategist and the first president of Tanzania: “Unity has to come before there will be any great advance against the remaining bastions of privilege and racism.”

Roger House is professor emeritus of American Studies at Emerson College and the author of “Blue Smoke: The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy” and “South End Shout: Boston’s Forgotten Music Scene in the Jazz Age.” His forthcoming book is “Five Hundred Years of Black Self-Governance: A Call to Conscience.”