Democrats at Essence Fest Woo Voters They Ignore at Their Peril

(Bloomberg) -- A half-dozen Democratic presidential hopefuls spent the weekend pitching themselves and their plans to an audience of voters they ignore at their peril: black women.

The annual Essence Festival in New Orleans is the country’s largest gathering of African-American women, a group that votes in greater numbers than any other demographic in the Democratic party. The star-studded event -- it featured an interview of Michelle Obama by broadcaster Gayle King -- is now in its 25th year.

The primary message was that black women as a voting bloc are not to be taken for granted.

“From abolition to civil rights, from workers rights to women’s rights, black women have been at the center of every movement for social justice in our country’s history,’’ Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said on Saturday.

“If black women are going to be the highest [Democratic] voters in this country then the agenda of African American women has to be at the center of Democratic agenda,” Booker said.

Sustainable Growth

On Saturday, Senators Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Booker and former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke gave speeches and took part in panels. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado also dropped in with unannounced, five-minute speeches.

The candidates were quizzed on their plans to create sustainable economic growth for the black community and to narrow the wealth gap between white and black Americans.

Lower levels of homeownership among African Americans through the denial of loans was cited by nearly all of the candidates as squelching the ability of families to accrue wealth over the generations.

Harris announced a new plan to make it easier for black families to buy homes through a $100 billion investment by the federal government into neighborhoods that have historically been redlined, or where loans are declined because borrowers are seen as poor financial risks.

Capital Squeeze

Another key impediment to economic development within the African American community is the shortage of capital available to black entrepreneurs.

“The fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America are African American women, but they still do not get the access to capital that they deserve” Booker said. “In fact, between 2008 and 2017, just 0.0006% of all the startup capital was going to black women entrepreneurs.”

Warren, Booker, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg all have proposals to funnel grants to underrepresented entrepreneurs, or to take steps to remove racial bias in credit making decisions.

On Saturday, Warren outlined her policy to raise wages for women of color, saying she’d sign an executive order to ensure federal contractors pay their employees equally or they would not receive federal contracts. And Buttigieg said he’d require employers to publish their gender pay gaps.

As he did during a Miami candidates’ debate in late June, Buttigieg -- essentially polling at zero among potential black Democratic voters -- took responsibility for racial tension in the city he leads.

“Three weeks ago, when we experienced the police shooting of a black man, Eric Logan, I have challenged our own police department to recognize all of the ways the uniform has been burdened by racism,” Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg has proposed what he dubs the “Douglass Plan for Black America,” named for abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It would require 25% of federal government contracts to be awarded to minority-owned firms.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Steve Geimann

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