by Rob Taylor Jr.
Courier Staff Writer
by Rob Taylor Jr.
Courier Staff Writer
Even before this year’s General Election, Nov. 3, The U.S. Congress was the most diverse it’s ever been.
And as you read this article, it might have gotten more diverse.
Data from the Pew Research Center revealed that when the 116th Congress convened in 2019, it had a record 116 members of color, out of 535 total congressional members (22 percent).
Mix that with an August report from Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics which revealed that at least 130 Black women had run for a congressional seat in 2020, and come January 2021, the 117th Congress could be another record-breaker for diversity.
The high-stakes presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden unquestionably overshadowed the new movement of Black women wanting to take matters into their own hands in national politics.
DESIREE TIMS was a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 10th congressional district.
Take Desiree Tims, for example. The Dayton, Ohio, native graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati and Georgetown University’s Law School, in Washington D.C. She dipped her hand into politics while at Xavier, volunteering on President Barack Obama’s campaign in southwest Ohio. She since worked for two senators in D.C., before returning to reside in Dayton. Tims won the Democratic nomination in Ohio’s Primary Election, and she was pitted against Republican Mike Turner for the 10th U.S. congressional Seat from Ohio.
“I’m running for Congress because it’s time to have some much needed change… My grandfather was a sharecropper in the deep South. He migrated to Southwest Ohio in the late 1940s, and on a first-grade education was able to climb his way to the middle class,” Tims, 32, told Ohio public radio station WYSO. “Today, when I look around and talk to my neighbors, I know people with graduate degrees who can’t climb their way to the middle class. So, I’m running for Congress to bring fresh eyes, fresh visions, and the voices of the people of the Miami Valley with me to the halls of Congress as we usher in policies that will really change lives.”
Marilyn Strickland, a Black woman who formerly was the mayor of Tacoma, Washington, was running for a seat in the state’s 10th congressional district against fellow Democrat Beth Doglio. They were looking to succeed Danny Heck.
Strickland, 58, said her decade in local politics gave her the advantage over her opponent heading into the Nov. 3 election. If Strickland were elected, she’d become the first Black woman to hold a congressional district seat not only in the state of Washington, but the entire Pacific Northwest region.
Strickland and Tims are examples of Black candidates who, if they were elected to a congressional seat in the Nov. 3 election, would replace and thus, remove a Caucasian man from Congress.
TAMIKA HAMILTON was a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 3rd congressional district.
Tamika Hamilton was trying to do that in the 3rd congressional district in California, but Hamilton, a Black woman, was running as a Republican in an effort to beat John Garamendi, the Democratic incumbent. An Air Force veteran, Hamilton served two tours of duty in the Middle East.
“We have to fix what’s broken in Washington (D.C.) and get away from the endless partisanship. It’s time to restore the focus back on the people,” Hamilton said during a promotional video in February. “…I’m passionate about restoring the hope of the California dream, protecting our neighborhoods, securing the future of our next generation.”
The more than 130 Black women cited by Rutgers University included the women who ran in a state’s Primary Election and didn’t win the nomination for the General Election. Still, it’s evident that Black women are here to stay when it comes to America’s politics.
The data from Pew Research Center shows the upward trajectory of Blacks and other people of color being represented in the U.S. Congress. In 2001, there were 61 non-White congressional members, including 38 African Americans. By 2011, the number had jumped to 81 non-White congressional members; 42 of them were Black. Of the current 116 non-White congressional members, 56 are Black. The only Black Republican congressman is Tim Scott, the senator from South Carolina. The other 55 members are part of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Congress is made up of the Senate (100 members, two from each state) and the House of Representatives (435 members, varying number of members from each state). The Congress is part of the Legislative Branch of government.
Pennsylvania has 21 congressional districts. The only Black congressman from Pennsylvania is Dwight Evans, from District 3, which encompasses several parts of Philadelphia. Black elected officials often seen in Pittsburgh, such as Ed Gainey, Jake Wheatley, Summer Lee and Austin Davis, are representatives at the state House level, which is different from the representatives that comprise Congress.
(Results from the Nov. 3 General Election were incomplete as of Courier press deadline.)
MARILYN STRICKLAND, left, was seeking a U.S. Congressional seat in the House of Representatives, from Washington State. She’s part of an upward trend of Black women seeking congressional seats. Pictured next to Strickland is Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who is part of U.S. Congress as a California senator.
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