Increasingly, Black women are no longer standing on the sidelines in politics. They’re pursuing elected offices never held by a woman.
On Election Day, New Orleans residents will choose between, City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell and former judge Desiree Charbonnet, two African-American women running for mayor–an office that a man had always occupied.
Black female candidates across the nation have a great opportunity this year, partly because Black women are politically engaged at high numbers. According to the Black Women’s Roundtable, Black women voted at the highest percentage of any other demographic in 2008 and 2012.
Away from high-profile races like the one in New Orleans, Black women who have never held elected office are seizing the opportunity.
The Charleston Chronicle reports that a trio of political hopefuls in South Carolina seek to make historic firsts.
Robin Ruth Gause in Myrtle Beach is running for a state House seat; Marguerite Chrissy Johnson hopes to be elected mayor of Walterboro, and Peggy Hammond could become the first Black female to sit on Walterboro’s town council.
Hammond told the Chronicle that her candidacy is not about building a political career. “I am a citizen who has great concern for my community,” she said. “I believe that given my community experience and activism, I can help grow Walterboro as a city council member.”
According to Higher Heights for America, Black women represent about 7 percent of the U.S. population but hold less than 1 percent of statewide elected offices, 3.5 percent of state legislative seats and under 2 percent of mayoral offices in cities with more than 30,000 residents.
SOURCE: Charleston Chronicle
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Black Women Have An Opportunity To Flex Their Political Muscle On Election Day was originally published on newsone.com
