BLACK WOMEN CANDIDATES RUNNING IN 2018 FACE MORE OBSTACLES, POLITICAL EXPERTS SAY
Just months ago, Democrats thanked black women for voting in high numbers to block accused sexual predator Roy Moore from winning an Alabama Senate seat. But now, black women running for the first time in 2018 say they’re facing systematic obstacles endemic to a political system that wasn’t built for them.
As many of these women enter competitive Democratic primaries, some have even found themselves at war with the very party that, for decades, has relied on their political engagement to win elections.
“Black people are seen as workhorses,” Quentin James, executive director of Collective PAC, an organization that recruits, trains and funds black candidates, told Newsweek. “The party thinks of them when they’re trying to get out the black vote, but black candidates running are still an afterthought.”