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Chelsi Henry has lived a life that many would aspire to. As the daughter of a 16-year-old single mother, Henry bucked statistics by completing college and then law school, and quickly moved on to work as a senior state policy advisor in Florida. She recently passed the state bar and has also held elective office.
But what sets Henry, 26, apart from most modern black women is this: she’s a Republican—and proud of it. “My alignment with the Republican Party closely reflects my personal values,” Henry explains. BET listed her as one of 10 Black Republicans to Watch; she’s one of conservative webzine Red Alert Politics’ “30 Under 30”; and she also snagged a slot on the coveted Republican National Committee’s Rising Star list.
In terms of pure numbers, black registered Republicans like Henry are still statistical anomalies. But, in recent years, what they’re not accruing in terms of elected seats they’ve managed to accumulate through raw visibility. Whether they’re seeding student chapters at Historically Black Colleges and Universities or holding bizarre forums in barbershops, black Republicans are proudly letting their GOP flag wave.
Former Republican strategist and one-time Congressional primary candidate Lenny McAllister calls it a surge. To McAllister, the sudden and rather conspicuous rise in black Republicanism is evident, “in all aspects of politics: political punditry, grassroots activism, party involvement. From running for elected offices to showing up in all forms of media,” he argues.
In his optimism, McAllister points to a black party chair, six vice-chairs of statewide GOP organizations, and numerous black Republican activists and candidates. Yet few black Republicans are getting elected, particularly on the highly visible statewide and federal levels.
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), for example, might be pulled out of the Republican toy box as one shining example of “Big Tent” politics (a term Republicans have over-utilized since the 1990s), but he’s only one out of three sitting African Americans in the U.S. Senate.
In her second try at it, Mia Love would be the only black Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the first African American to represent the state of Utah. In Illinois, former Miss America Erika Harold came close to unseating incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis (RIL) in a first-try primary challenge, but couldn’t close a 13-point gap.
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In Oklahoma and Texas, tea party favorites T.W. Shannon and agitator Katrina Pierson suffered embarrassing defeats against well-heeled incumbents; Shannon, the state’s House speaker who at one point showed major promise in polls, had even enjoyed public support from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
“We’re looking for great candidates everywhere,” offers Jill Bader, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee. While RSLC isn’t part of the RNC, Bader is eager to rattle off the 130 diverse and 120 woman hopefuls during the 2014 election cycle. “We’re starting to see a groundswell of support from that orbit of candidates.”
Does that mean there is a new movement or rebirth of black Republicanism taking place? Something could be bubbling, but what it means over the long term is unclear. “I think a black partisan realignment is still a long ways off , but the success of these black Republicans in Republican jurisdictions does present a path to elective office in places where Democrats—regardless of their color—have a hard time getting elected,” Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie explains.
Talk of “realignment” came up among political game theorists sorting through the bizarre earthquake that took place in Mississippi during the caustic June Republican primary for U.S. Senate. In that race, highly respected old boy Republican Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) resorted to soliciting black Democratic voters eligible to participate in the state’s open primary. Fending off a furious challenge from tea party state senator Chris McDaniel, that stunt helped Cochran win by two percentage points.
But should Democrats be worried about that kind of shift in future elections? It’s fiction to think African American voters will suddenly bolt Republican with 95 percent consistently voting Democrat in presidential elections. But Gallup, Pew and others show the number of black independent, non-partisan voters (that is, those who have open minds) steadily rising. Twenty nine percent of independent voters are black.
Plus, President Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2016. “Democrats should be very worried about that,” says Rev. Al Sharpton. “Without Obama, black people will not turn out [to the polls] the same way as before.”
As a result, the GOP appears to be making a concerted play here. It’s no accident that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a likely hopeful for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, is stumbling into black colleges and churches. With a growing movement of jaded millennials and libertarians, Republicans seek to corner the younger voter market. RSLC’s Bader notes that, “most of our [diverse and women] candidates are usually younger because it’s their first start in politics.”
Many observers also point to a peculiar trend: younger, more independent-minded African American activists or politicos are growing disgruntled following failed attempts to grow in the Democratic Party. They tend to consider non-partisan politics, the GOP and even the Tea Party. This was the case in 2010 when two prominent young black Democrats from Georgia, Hall County Commissioner Ashley Bell and former state executive committee member Andre Walker, abruptly switched parties.
“I was never engaged or involved in politics prior to the Tea Party,” said Pierson during an interview for the documentary Black Tea: The New Civil Right. “One of the things that drew me to political action was simply that the Tea Party was there. There was really no political home for someone new to politics who didn’t want to engage in any of the partisanism that was happening.”
After unsuccessful tries at dominating the usual black and very Democratic politics, there are some who see an opening for career enrichment and fewer crabs in the barrel with GOP politics. One up-and-coming elected official (who did not want his or her name used) admitted to being approached by Republican Party officials—and, at one point, considering the switch as a path to higher office. Many sense that the Democratic Party is saturated with other African Americans doing the same thing, and there’s also the perception that older or more senior black party leaders were forcing younger advocates to stand in line and “wait their turn.”
For the committed partisans, though, it’s not about that. “My life is a testimony of conservatism,” says Henry. “These are the core values I’m connected to.”
Henry’s decision was based partly on her humble beginnings, and partly an attraction to GOP ideals such as school choice and reduced taxes. “I’m very passionate about lowering taxes, for example, because young professionals like myself need to succeed. Government should stop punishing those who make more money and who want to give. Local communities and individuals know what’s best for them.”
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“I do see something happening with younger African American voters,” observes former RNC Chair and former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele as he recalls moments he’s talked with black students at HBCUs and elsewhere. “It becomes an intriguing conversation and it becomes obvious that they weren’t so decidedly in lock-step with Democrats as once thought.”
“The conversation ends up at ‘so how does this work best for me?’ This is why the Mississippi Senate race could be a leveraging point for African Americans. Why can’t they then do it in another race?”
It seems schizophrenic: On one hand, Republican lawmakers on the state level push voter suppression and Voter ID laws, and on the other, the national GOP creates a new black outreach machine on a dreamy quest for black votes. Steele, whose bitter clashes with current RNC Chair Reince Priebus are famous, acknowledges that. “The GOP needs to address fundamentals with this group on common sense priorities,” Steele says, emphasizing the critical trust factor. “They must address hard questions: ‘Why would you appear to support a policy that appears to limit access to the ballot box?’”
Despite that, Priebus believes he’s making inroads. “We want to have an open, honest dialogue about the Republican Party and garner feedback from real people,” says Priebus. “It’s important for us to immerse ourselves and our message of opportunity in the community.” In the meantime, Gillespie wonders if black Republican candidates can “clear the field”—eliminating as much competition as possible through campaigning, attrition, fundraising and media to ultimately become the winning nominee for their party in the general election. To date, it’s been a hard sell, particularly in majority Republican districts where the population is mostly white. “The key is putting oneself in position to actually clear a political field,” says Gillespie.
CHARLES D. ELLISON is a veteran political strategist and UPTOWN’s chief political correspondent. He is also Washington correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune and a frequent contributor to The Root. He can be reached via Twitter @charlesdellison.
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