The Democratic Party would be nothing without its strong base of Black voters, especially Black women. Election after election, Democrats take the turnout of Black voters for granted, the most dedicated group of the factions that make up the Party. Black voters made it possible for Joe Biden to be President. Black voters helped Democrats sweep the 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs, giving Democrats a temporary majority in the Senate. Black voters won enough Districts to allow Democrats to maintain control in the House of Representatives, but that advantage was lost in the 2024 election.

Many, if not most, Black Democrats were born into Democratic families. That wasn’t always the case. Some Republicans point to the allegiance a majority of Black people have to the Democratic Party as being on the “Democratic Plantation.” They might not be aware that Black people once voted in even higher numbers for Republicans. Republicans can accurately point to the founding of their Party being deeply rooted in the abolition of slavery. There were decades of racial progress associated with the Republican Party from its inception in 1854 until its gradual decline, starting with the Compromise of 1877. Republicans share the blame for ending Reconstruction and looking the other way for almost a century of Jim Crow.

What Republicans still like to refer to as the “Party of Lincoln” has become the Party that will do anything to win an election. That was true in 1877 and is more so today. All the things they allegedly stood for, small government, fiscal responsibility, and moral integrity, have been set aside for trying to win at any cost. Not fairly, mind you. It seems the only tactic they have left is to keep those opposed to them from voting under the poorly disguised veil of voter integrity. They are attempting to prevent minorities (especially Black people) from voting in large numbers to win with a minority of voters. The Party of Lincoln is using racist tools to accomplish what they could not otherwise. They are left with appealing to a rotting base of mostly aggrieved white people who feel a loss of entitlement because their advantages are slightly reduced, though not nearly gone.

You might be asking, how did the Party founded on ending slavery become the home of bitter white people who used to be Democrats? The Democratic Party, especially southern Democrats, supported enslaving people. They were the Klan and all they represented. They were responsible for and supportive of lynching Black people, suppressing their votes, preventing their education, denying them fair housing, and good jobs. There was no good reason for a Black person to be a Democrat until they became the better option.

People think white bigots began leaving the Democratic Party during the 1960s during the Civil Rights Era, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were just the last straws. Democrats started moving to the Republican Party as early as 1948 when Harry S. Truman integrated the armed forces. The Voting Rights Act was a reaction to the brutal beatings on national television of peaceful protesters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The integration of the military followed the lynchings and beatings of Black veterans, including Isaac Woodard, returning from serving their country overseas. Dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party sent many white people to the Republican Party, where they were happily accepted. It was then that Black voters began to become Democrats. They didn’t leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left them. Replacing them with the white evangelicals that propped up enslavement, the Black Codes, and Jim Crow, as if all that was God’s will.

“What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not. Whether this feeling accords with justice and sound judgment, is not the sole question, if, indeed, it is any part of it. A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, cannot be safely disregarded. We cannot, then, make them equals. It does seem to me that systems of gradual emancipation might be adopted; but for their tardiness in this, I will not undertake to judge our brethren of the South.” — Abraham Lincoln

You can see that neither Party has been all that good to Black people. Even Lincoln-era Republicans against enslavement wanted to ship enslaved people off to Liberia or Central America at war’s end. They might have wanted to end enslavement, but didn’t want the freedmen and women as their neighbors. At their best, Republicans didn’t want us aroun;d at their worst, which arguably is now. They don’t like Black people to vote, have good jobs, health care, equal housing, and want over-policing of our neighborhoods and sentencing disparity.

Not to say Democrats have a sterling record. Their record of late is better than it was. At their worst, they killed Black people to keep them from voting or disrespecting a white woman. They were for enslavement, capital punishment, and keeping us illiterate and poor. But when they had the chance to enact legislation to promote true equality. They always chose not to, without regard to their reliance on Black voters to put them in power. When Democrats last controlled all three levers of government, they failed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, leaving the door open for the attacks on Black representation taking place now.

I’m not saying at all that Republicans are a viable option. They don’t even pretend concern for the issues important to Black people. Right now, they are busy enacting legislation all over the country to suppress our voters and reduce our voting strength. They’ll cede us a limited number of Congressional Districts and pack the bulk of Black voters into them. We’ll have some representation but no power. Name the top elected Black official in the Republican Party? If you came up with a name, they have no real control within the Party. You might have said Senator Tim Scott (SC). He recently headed up the Republican side in negotiations on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Those talks fell apart because a Black face didn’t mean he could pull white Republican Senators along with him. His main job as a Republican is to give them cover by saying, “America Is Not a Racist Country!”

I once worked for a grocery chain that would tell you they’re the leading grocer in the Southeast. They indeed are, but only because nobody else is trying hard enough. They way too often violate health and safety codes. They say their top priority is “premier customer service,” but their actions show they value profitability more. Their break rooms are full of exhausted workers, struggling to keep their bodies and minds from breaking under strain. For Black people, the Democratic Party is like that. We give the Party our all; in return, we get as little as they can get away with.

There are Black people in positions of leadership within the Party. We even had a Black President for two terms. Does any of that translate into Black power? It may mean that James Clyburn can affect legislation to bring the bacon home to his District. It also meant he had to support the Party’s choice of the President’s nominee. In the same way, his support turned around the Biden campaign when it was floundering. He stuck a dagger in the backs of Kamala Harris and Cory Booker to ruin their chances. Right now, Republicans are working to reroute the Black voters in his District to remove him from power.

Black people are far better represented in the Democratic Party than they are in the Republican Party. But does that make much of a difference? The Democratic Party is standing by while Republicans rob Black voters of their strength. Democrats invented voter suppression, so they know it when they see it; they control the Senate, the House, and the White House. They could do something about it, but lack the will. After the 2026 mid-terms, they may once again have the power, but will they use it?

So what do Black Democrats do? Most of their options only benefit the Republicans, who are still the worst option. Donald Trump convinced a larger number of young Black men to try him, asking, “What the hell do you have to lose?” We’ve seen that voting Republican got them nothing, bit does voting Democratic get them that much more? Voting any of the existing third parties does the same thing. It’s time for us to elect representatives who will do our will, or replace them.

We have elected officials in the Party, both Black and White, who are more concerned with their reelection than representing the people. If they are more focused on relying on archaic traditions like the filibuster than on accomplishing our goals, then find someone willing to do what it takes. If they are ready to stand by and let voter suppression and redistricting wipe out our voting strength, they need to be voted out. Republican officials are afraid of being primaried by someone to their right. Democrats need to get rid of those unwilling to support the people’s agenda. Joe Manchin didn’t do any good as a Democrat in West Virginia.

Whatever you may think of Republicans, they are maniacal in trying to push their agenda through. Whether it be voter suppression, blocking abortion, or cutting taxes for the rich. They never waiver from pursuing their goals without regard for who it hurts. Democrats are wishy-washy, especially when it comes to the needs of their Black constituents. Like that grocery chain I mentioned. They may be the best available option, but only because nobody else is trying.

The two options I see for Black voters are either taking charge of the primary process or ousting any elected official not willing to support our causes. Republicans cast out those unwilling to get on board. Democrats keep nominating and electing those whose votes differ little from Republicans. The second option is to create or join a third party. Imagine a third party not already bought out by the rich and powerful, especially if we could ally with other traditionally Democratic voters like Hispanics or Asians that also see little benefit from voting blue. The risk is always that if a third party pulls almost exclusively, it will help Republicans win. The status quo is that Republicans win, or we belong to a Party that acts just like Republicans.

When the Republican Party was formed from nothing in 1854. It only took six years before they elected Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President. We’ve seen how little it took for causes like the Tea Party to take over a Party. Why can’t a righteous cause sweep through or replace the Democratic Party? The things they are willing to let stand are unacceptable. There are Black leaders within the Party who will fight change tooth and nail. If they are unwilling to lead to achieve the goals of the Black voters that put them in power. They should get the hell out of the way or be replaced.

The likelihood is that Democrats will control the House of Representatives by a healthy margin after the 2026 mid-terms and possibly control the Senate. After the 2028 Presidential Election, Democrats may control all three branches again, assuming we’re still having elections. If they don’t make more of an effort to remember those who brought them to the dance. They don’t deserve unlimited loyalty. Republicans once had over 90% of the Black vote, but lost it. It isn’t impossible that Democrats could do the same.