Huffpo's gotta Huffpo....
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2020 Could Be A Breakthrough Year For Black Senate Candidates
There have been 10 Black senators in all of U.S. history. Six candidates are running to change that in the 2020 election.
There have been 1,307 people who have served in the U.S. Senate throughout its history. Only 10 of them have been Black.
Those numbers could skyrocket following the November election. Six Black non-incumbent candidates won major party nominations for Senate seats. Victories for the five Democrats and one lone Republican would constitute a dramatic increase in representation in a body that’s been stubbornly white, wealthy and male for nearly all of its 200-plus years.
It’s unclear if the six nominations set a record, but Black political operatives, activists and candidates all agreed it’s without precedent in recent history.
“It’s certainly something I haven’t seen in my lifetime,” said Chris Scott, political director at Collective PAC, a group fighting to increase Black representation.
On the Democratic side, the path to diversification runs through the South, with Marquita Bradshaw in Tennessee, Mike Espy in Mississippi, Jamie Harrison in South Carolina, Adrian Perkins in Louisiana and Raphael Warnock in Georgia. On the Republican side, John James is running in Michigan. (And in New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the one Black senator up for reelection this year, is a heavy favorite to win.)
Ahem, Huffpo, there are SEVEN Black people running for Senate. I guess this guy ain't Black...
