White Democrats Battle Demographics — And Lose
Ruben Navarrette Jr., mySA, July 9, 2018
The recent upset in New York’s 14th Congressional District brought some valuable political lessons.
Twenty-eight-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was outspent 18-to-1 by 56-year-old Joe Crowley. But she still walloped the 10-term congressman in the Democratic primary by an impressive 15 points.
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As for the lessons, let’s start with the three big ones.
- Some people are afraid of rainbows. Color scares them. And you can find these timid souls in both political parties.
In 2002, I was in Texas writing for the Dallas Morning News when the state Democratic Party ran what came to be known as a “rainbow ticket.” {snip}
What I remember was that many Texas Democrats were concerned that they could be headed into unexplored territory — a time when the leadership of their party might be entirely nonwhite. {snip}
Today, in Texas, whites make up only about 40 percent of the population. Shouldn’t the political parties reflect that?
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- White Democrats would much rather play the race card against the GOP than have it played against them. They don’t have the faintest idea about how to beat back insurrections by Latino Democrats, and so they’re likely to stumble.
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Too many white Democrats can no longer communicate with nonwhite constituents. If this continues, it’s going to be a long century for the left. Look at the demographics. White Democrats must know the days of running a party that, every year, looks less and less like them are coming to an end.
They’ll fight that reality with everything they have, but they won’t be able to change it.
