NC Democrats can’t take Black votes for granted. They’re losing too many | Opinion

The 2024 elections will be decided by swing voters, but for Democrats what will matter more is the turnout of those who are steadfast – Black voters.

Democrats are worried about cracks in that reliable voting block.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll of voters in six swing states found a surprising rise in Black support for former President Donald Trump. Overall, 22 percent of Black respondents said they would support Trump, including 27 percent of Black men who favored the Republican.

If those numbers show in the 2024 vote, it would be a historic shift. The Times noted that “No Democratic presidential candidate since the civil rights era has earned less than 80 percent of the Black vote.”

On top of that concern, Democratic leaders in North Carolina have another worry. Black voters who are opting out of voting because they feel the Democratic Party takes their votes for granted and has not delivered in return.

Kimberly Hardy, second vice-chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said of Black voters she has met, “Folks worry that their issues are not being attended to by either party They said, ‘We voted, and nothing changed.’ “

Hardy is working to dispel that disillusionment. She’s in the process of visiting 30 eastern North Carolina counties to deliver a message from the Democratic Party: Your vote can make a difference for you and your state and nation.

Black voters disengaging from the electoral process have a large effect. In just the nine counties Hardy has visited so far, she said, more than 100,000 Black voters registered as Democrats did not vote in the elections of 2020 and 2022.

Hardy, a Black former legislative candidate and an associate professor at Fayetteville State University’s School of Social Work, said many Black voters, particularly those in rural areas, have reason to think their votes were taken for granted.

When Hardy asks why voters are not going to the polls for statewide candidates, she’s told: “Because they’re not doing what you’re doing – showing up.”

Now Hardy makes a point of bringing candidates with her when she visits rural counties.

Hardy’s effort is part of new state Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton’s push to expand the Democratic vote in rural counties that have largely been written off in the past.

While the Democratic Party focuses on abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights and slowing climate change, many Black voters are looking for more attention to education, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, voting rights and public safety.

Marcus Bass is deputy director of the NC Black Alliance, a network of elected officials representing communities of color. He said the Democratic Party needs to be more than not the Republican Party.

“You have to lead with an agenda that is responsive,” he said, “Not just leading with the fear of what might happen if they don’t vote for the Democrat.”

State Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat and one of North Carolina’s most prominent Black politicians, said the message to Black voters has to be “directly appealing to bread and butter issues. You can’t take any vote for granted.”

Blue added, “We have to show that it does make a difference whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge of government.”

Black voters represent 20% of the state’s registered voters and 46% of registered Democrats so when Black voter turnout rises, it makes a difference.

In 2008, Black voter turnout exceeded white turnout by 73% to 71%, helping Barack Obama to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

But in the last two presidential elections, Black voters’ turnout trailed white turnout by 64% to 71% in 2016 and 68% to 79% in 2020.

If Democrats want to prevail statewide in 2024, they’ll have to do more than count on the Black vote. They’ll have to court it.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com