Primary Colors to People of Color: The Difference a State Makes

Can you believe the GOP nomination contest now features a front-running Newt Gingrich? All it took was a 40% win in South Carolina and boom. This week’s debate – featuring a “Hispanic” forum – in Jacksonville, FL could have given Newt some more momentum. That may lead Romney to consider a flip on his “DREAM act veto” position. I guess the fact that Hispanics make up 12% of the Republican Party in Florida may have something to do with that.

As this election season kicks into full swing, it is clear that there are a number of important states and districts in which People of Color (POC) may help to decide both primary and general election results. For example, POC in Florida make up 29.5% of the Citizen Voting Age Population and 69% are registered to vote.

In 2008, POC made up 28.9% of the vote share in the general election although more than a third did not vote (37.7%). Imagine what could happen in 2012 if we energize and turn out every eligible voter? Especially in places like Jacksonville, FL where there are over 200,000 “Key” POC voters and where voters were recently able to elect that city’s first African American mayor.

Changes in congressional seats are at stake as well. We know that reapportionment gave Florida two congressional seats. So, there is no doubt that there will be a number of heated contests in which incumbents will face strong challengers. In these races pitting refurbished conservative candidates against surging progressive candidates, most of the focus will be on the fact that Democrats need 25 seats to take back the house and the Republicans need 10 seats to win control of the Senate.

But, there are other dynamics in these elections that may prove far more significant. Political experts often portray people of color as incidental when it relates to the broader sphere of American politics. Moreover, they seem to find it difficult to connect election results to evidence-based demographic trends. On one hand, they seem to recognize the fact that certain POC turnout levels will produce reliable results. On the other hand, they miss the fact that those turnout levels are connected to resources and political investment in POC communities.

The astonishing part is that most everyone acknowledges the unspoken high watermark. The fact is that, four years ago in South Carolina the POC community lit the torch that led a young African American candidate to the Presidency. But this didn’t just happen on a wing and a prayer; POC organizations began to connect the dots in early January. Moreover, these organizations did not follow the “vintage” campaign models for POC engagement.

In particular, PowerPAC made a significant investment toward engaging communities of color early in the primary season. In fact, they were the first organization to hit South Carolina’s airwaves. They understood that “hope” and “change” wouldn’t have a chance if someone did not expand democracy to South Carolina’s POC community early. They knew that there were pockets of voters that could be the difference if given the chance. The results show that all the POC electorate needs is a systematic political structure powered by evidence based data. Note that he won the Primary with 54% of the vote.

The same holds true for other parts of the country. Young POC politicians are running for office in central Florida, northeast Texas, southwest Ohio, south central Arizona, Southern Nevada, and a number of places in California.

There is no doubt that these politicians are more than capable of running competent campaigns. The truth is, they are beneficiaries of the civil rights movement and gained valuable tools from our forebears. That’s probably what led them to throw their hat in the ring to begin with. Their interests represent our collective guiding beliefs. Once in office, POC politicians will have the opportunity to build coalitions and work towards creating a collective social, cultural, and economic apparatus for Whites, Latinos, African Americans, Asians, and Native Americans.

But will their war chest benefit from the collective social economic advancements of the progressive community? Will they receive the support they need to defeat their opponents? If we care about diversity in political leadership, we shouldn’t just express our support through the vote. We should express our concern through monetary civic engagement. The fact is, if you invest political resources in a POC community, you will most likely have a positive return. That’s popping the clutch.

KIRK CLAY is Senior Advisor at Power PAC

Kirk Clay has returned to PowerPAC as the Senior Advisor. PowerPAC is an organization focused on politics and civic engagement. He worked for PowerPAC as the national field director during the 2008 primary season where he led a $10 million effort that mobilized more than 500,000 voters in ten states. Between 2008 and 2011, Mr. Clay was the National Civic Engagement Director for the NAACP where he was responsible for developing and implementing political research, advocacy and training agenda. Under his leadership, the NAACP executed three 2.0 style voter mobilization campaigns and a national census effort to increase civic participation rates in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Kirk served as Vice Chair of the Census Bureau’s Information Center Steering Committee. Their mission is to provide efficient access to Census Bureau data products. Members of the Census Information Centers are recognized as official sources of demographic, economic, and social statistics produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Kirk Clay’s experience includes serving as the Director of Outreach at Common Cause where he developed relationships with individual contributors and developed a diverse national coalition of strategic partners. He also promoted election reform, ethics in government and government accountability. Earlier, Mr. Clay was Deputy Director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation where he managed day-to day operations as well as participated in efforts to mobilize members, activists, community leaders, faith leaders, and state legislators in grassroots issue campaigns. In 2004, he served as the National Field Director of the Unity’04 Voter Empowerment Campaign. Mr. Clay was a Deputy Director for People For the American Way‘s field department where he managed the Partners for Public Education program and organized successful pro-public education coalitions and rallies in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Jackson, Jacksonville, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Richmond, and St. Louis. He also mobilized the Los Angeles community to oppose Proposition 38 and helped to mobilize activists in Detroit against proposal 209. While at PFAW, Mr. Clay developed the African American Ministers Leadership Council to build national support for public education with ministers from around the country. Kirk has been featured in many newspapers and magazines. He has written many articles including “Redistricting Strategies for Civil Rights Organizations” for the State of Black America publication. He has also been a guest on numerous television and news programs across the nation. Kirk began his career as a trainer and lead administrator for the Democratic National Committee Campaign Training Academy where he helped to train over 500 campaign staff and activist. He is a former White House intern and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and three children. His hobbies include traveling, cooking, and Jazz. He is a popular political blogger and is active on twitter @kirkclay

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