Every presidential election year, when the pundits start buzzing about the Democrats’ nominee for president before Black voters have weighed in, that’s a lot like decorating for Thanksgiving — just something to do until the main event.
Iowa and New Hampshire — both more than 90% white — can only offer momentum to a presidential hopeful. The lion’s share of delegates come from districts with the highest concentration of Democrats, and those districts tend to be heavily populated by Black people. The last person to secure the nomination without Black support was Michael Dukakis, and he won only 10 states in the general election. Pretty sure no one wants to repeat that.
President Joe Biden certainly doesn’t. Last week he proposed, and the Democratic National Committee agreed, to shuffle the order of nominating contests so that South Carolina holds the first primary, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire, then Georgia and then Michigan. That lineup empowers a different demographic.
