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109 Defying All Odds African Americans Winning Statewide Elections Whenever African Americans have embarked upon efforts to win elections for state offices, the act of being the first to do so would immediately become important. In every case, their resumes came with figurative asterisks to indicate their roles as the pioneering members of their race either to seek a particular position or to receive a party’s nomination to run for one. Whether by their opponents ’ insinuations or officially for the record, race would matter enough to emerge as an important—and perhaps the most important—defining characteristic . In particular, among these pioneering minority candidates with hopes of winning election to political office, those who were dependent upon receiving sufficient votes from outside narrowly construed African American-populated districts gained special notice and notoriety. Often, therefore, other more relevant qualifications were pushed aside for those African Americans who had to campaign for white support. There was no escaping electorates’ continuing fascination with skin color. It was rare for racial awareness not to creep into discussions and be present in assessments. Pigmentation always appeared as the characteristic that counted most of all as the final determiner in how majorities of voters—Caucasian and African American—would choose among the candidates running for a particular statewide office. But there is one other factor that needs elaboration for several black politicians who have competed against whites: their opponents’ baggage. It could be a scandal or a resonating issue such as their party’s connection to a recession. From 1966 through 2008, black candidacies occurred across the United States for various statewide elective offices. Overall, African American office seekers who failed to garner enough white support to politically succeed outnumbered those with successful campaigns. No doubt a major factor contributing to the Chapter 4 110 From Edward Brooke to Barack Obama reason so few minority candidates had convinced white majority electorates to entrust them with public offices was the polarizing effect African American legislative caucuses had on white voters. By focusing most of their agendas and attention in general assemblies and city councils on obtaining as many benefits as possible for African Americans, these special interest groups in many instances prejudiced white voters to infer that members of the minority were the only ones to really gain from bestowing upon African Americans the commonweal that accompanies public offices. In essence, the absolute lesson whites took away from having blacks elected to important political positions ultimately came down to more representation, power, and privileges going to a minority at the expense of the white majority. Interracial contests often, therefore, turned into “us-versusthem ” campaigns that thus became virtually unwinnable for African American candidates competing in political races with whites. Therefore as electable as Tom Bradley had been in Los Angeles, Andrew Young in Atlanta, and Norman Rice in Seattle, the African American trio badly faltered as serious contestants in the respective gubernatorial races of California, Georgia, and Washington. When judged locally, the three mayors had gained fine reputations for fairness and competence , but across their states a first aspect of importance and relevance about each one of these contenders for governorships became their skin color and not their impartiality. Hence white political opponents in every instance forced Bradley, Young, and Rice’s evolving campaigns to disintegrate into defensive efforts , which clearly disadvantaged these three African American Democrats. As much as they might have desperately tried to center their predominantly white electorates on accomplishments and issues more substantial than race, their political foes and the media never allowed this to occur.1 Unsuccessful Campaigns of Roland W.Burris in Illinois and Ken Blackwell in Ohio African American mayors were not the only minority members who experienced major difficulties at succeeding to governorship—records showcase several more instances of defeat in their attempts at obtaining higher offices by ambitious African Americans holding less prestigious state offices. In two notable cases from 2002 and 2006, Roland W. Burris and Ken Blackwell lost campaigns that would have elevated them to state leadership positions in Illinois and Ohio, respectively. The Illinois comptroller from 1979 to 1991 and later the state attorney general from 1991 to 1995, Burris was a relatively soft-spoken, conservative Democrat with the usually beneficial advantage of downstate Centralia roots in a state noted for its rural prejudice against Chicago. He had served Land of Lincoln residents with distinction. Even so, this cautious African American official , with a successful and scandal-free record in two relatively obscure...

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