“Glass half full: cautious optimism and the future of Black women political elites in America”

Abstract

In this essay, we place Black women's electoral challenges and opportunities in context. We situate this year of “Black Women Candidates” as an anomaly, but one that has been a long in the making. We also point to the appeal of Black women lawmakers among voters to mirror Alberder Gillespie's claims in this epigraph. We note that Black women have long been the backbone of the Democratic Party and are willing to use their clout for their own political means. Furthermore, given the unique ways that Black women represent their constituents, an influx of Black women into governing bodies may have a substantial, lasting impact on policy-making. We conclude with insights from our own research and that of other scholars on Black women to demonstrate future avenues of scholarly research.

Black Millennials, Slipping Alliances, and the Democratic Party

“…Not only do Black women disproportionately identify with the Democratic Party but scholars have categorized Black women as the backbone of the Democratic Party (Brown and Gershon 2021;Brown and Lemi 2020). As we see, scholars have clearly identified gendered differences with respect to Democratic Party loyalty between Black women and Black men.…”

Women Get the Job Done: Differences in Constituent Communication from Female and Male Lawmakers

“…Therefore, our intersectionality prediction argues that women of color may have higher levels of responsiveness compared to White women. Intersectionality Prediction : We expect that female legislators of color will be more responsive relative to White women.However, it is also possible that female legislators of color may not face the same gendered pressures to be highly responsive, partly because of minority-majority districts, yet we still expect that these lawmakers will actively engage with their constituents. This is because, as argued by a number of scholars, politicians of color in general, but female legislators of color specifically, are uniquely attentive to the interests of constituents who appear to be multiply disadvantaged as well as underrepresented (Brown and Gershon 2021; Burden 2007; Hawkesworth 2003; Reingold, Haynie, and Widner 2021). For this group of legislators, it may be that they are not only interested in protecting their reelection prospects but also, more importantly, seeking to make sure that their constituents know that their voices are being heard by elected officials.…”