What About Us?
The Democratic Digital Army Must Still Include Black People
Democrats need to reach and win over more White people to survive as a party. So I was heartened to see today’s Washington Post story about “How Democrats are Building Their Own Digital Media Army” outlining how Dems are going on podcasts and Substack to reach voters who get information in their own algorithmic silos.
But as I read the story I noticed the lack of independent African American digital spaces. Black people get info from digital media too. If Democrats can’t reach out beyond their base, the math gets harder to win, but if the base feels like it’s being abandoned, the math becomes impossible.
The Electoral College is widely expected to tilt away from Democrats after the 2030 census due to population shifts and reapportionment. Democrats will have rebuild the cracked Blue Wall in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, win purple states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona; and compete in states like Ohio, Texas and Florida to have a successful future as the demographic tide turns.
Winning younger White voters and women of all backgrounds and ages and older, educated men is paramount. So is regaining some cultural currency with working class men of all backgrounds and ages, including younger Black men. The party can’t keep losing altitude with men and compete.
The 2024 election highlighted the disadvantage Democrats faced on the digital media front and how much they needed to build something like what Republicans have but unique to the Progressive voice. What makes us unique is the breath of our coaliton. So when I read today’s story, I wondered where was Roland Martin? What about Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke podcast? Or the Native Land Pod with Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, Bakari Sellers, and Andrew Gillum? Or Joe Budden? or The Tea with April Ryan?
Hopefully this problem sits with the reporters and editors at the Post and not the groups doing outreach. Kamala Harris talked to many independent Black digital voices in the presidential campaign and her book tour. So I have hope, but I also know how my Democratic friends can sometimes fall into an either / or mentality. Either we are talking to people of color or we are leaning in on the White voters we have lost.
They have to do both.
Democrats can’t build the coalition that wins without reaching out to all of their voters. The strategically useful news is that many voters are facing the same challenges in the economy and disappointment with the Trump administration. Americans just need a party that sees all of us at the same time and believes politics is still a game of addition and not the divisive formula the Republicans use everyday.