Republicans are really, really bad at diversity.
This should shock exactly no one, but in a spectacular Twitter self-own, they decided to offer themselves up for a public spanking for acting like their horribly racist, lily-white political club was remotely interested in being less Ku Klux Klannish. Oh, and to make matters grosser, they tagged the big announcement as a Black History Month tweet.
We currently have a record number of Black Republicans running for office and winning at all levels.
Over 40 Black Republicans are running in GOP primaries for both local and federal office. #BlackHistoryMonth
— GOP (@GOP) February 6, 2022
You don’t say. Forty whole Black people? Or should we divide that by 3/5?
It’s too easy to liken this to us white people trying to prove we’re not racist by saying we have that one Black friend, but of course, many on Twitter made that short leap. Others did actual math, for which I’m grateful, because I’ve mentioned more than once on this site that I don’t do math on purpose unless my mother makes me.
So, out of 535 elected federal positions, and all 50 states, over 3,000 counties, and over 19,000 cities and towns, you’re bragging about having 40 black candidates out of the tens of thousands of federal and local elections?
40, out of tens of thousands. Less than 1%.
— Jax Persists (@LadyJayPersists) February 6, 2022
In 2022 there’s 469 House/Senate seats up for election at the federal level, 249 state executive seats which are up and 6,166 state legislative seats which are up. That’s 6,884 federal & state races.
They could only find 40 to run in the PRIMARIES. https://t.co/7AGPfuMvOf
— Charles #GetCovered-ba 🩺 (@charles_gaba) February 6, 2022
If you assume that those 6,884 races average a bit more than 2 candidates per GOP primary, that’s around 14,000 candidates running in state & federal races. 40 / 14,000 = 0.29%.
(I’m actually being generous here and assuming “local” doesn’t include county/municipal-level races).
— Charles #GetCovered-ba 🩺 (@charles_gaba) February 6, 2022
The rest just pummeled the GOP (Grift Over Progress) for their pathetic, gaslighting, clueless attempt to brag about how inclusive they think are.
The @GOP is boasting that 40 Black Republicans running for office is a record. FOURTY – IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY‼️
Get back to us in November with the results of how many Black candidates actually won Republican races for a Party that doesn’t even want us to vote. pic.twitter.com/UAGv3lZV0G
— Christopher Webb 🇺🇸 (@cwebbonline) February 6, 2022
“Auditors in Washington State found that the mail ballots of Black voters were being rejected at four times the rate of white voters. Similar trends have been seen in other states.”
Rejected Mail Ballots Are Showing Racial Disparities https://t.co/IMkVPOVVoA
— (Italian) Bamboo cryptologist (@TinResistAgain) February 7, 2022
You’re banning and burning books; calling deadly white supremacist terrorist attacks “legitimate political discourse,” standing with podcast hosts who use the n-word in 70+ episodes, passing bills to make lynching legal, and suppressing POC’s voting rights in 49 states. Sit down.
— Andrew Wortman 🏳️🌈 (@AmoneyResists) February 7, 2022
Punsters have a special place in my heart.
40? In the whole country? Including all levels? 40? And you think this is a number to crow about?
— Sparky MD/PhD (@NeuroSpark) February 6, 2022
Or Jim Crow about ?
— Vince Olson , Councilman & EMT of Big Water , Utah (@SteelToeTruth) February 6, 2022
But so do historians. So I’ll give this one the final word.
Historian here, there were many more Black Republican legislators during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Since then the Republican Party has become the party of the neo Confederacy. No decent citizen should associate themselves with traitors to American democracy.
— Manisha Sinha (@ProfMSinha) February 7, 2022