Why 2014 could be a banner year for black candidates

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Three African-Americans are strong candidates to be elected either governor or U.S. senator in 2014, creating the potential for a landmark year for black candidates.

Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Anthony Brown announced earlier this month he will seek his state’s top post and enters the race with the backing of the state’s current governor, Martin O’Malley. Newark mayor Cory Booker is the favorite to win next year’s U.S. Senate race in New Jersey, and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was appointed to the Senate earlier this year, is expected to win a full six-year term.

If all three won, it would be a breakthrough in terms of black candidates. Two black candidates have never been elected senator in the same election year. Only eight African-Americans have ever been senators, and only four of those eight were elected. (Scott and Massachusetts Democrat Mo Cowan, a temporary appointee who will be in the Senate until June, are the first two African-Americans to serve in the Senate at the same time.) Brown would be the nation’s fifth-ever black governor, and the third who was elected.

Lack of diversity

Brown has the most difficult race, with a host of top Democrats expected to run in the primary there. Scott has a major advantage since he is already holding the seat, and Republican officials in South Carolina are likely to discourage a primary against him.

That only three victories would constitute a landmark year illustrates the lack of diversity at the top rungs of American politics. Being elected governor or senator is the traditional route to the presidency. (The last president who had not been a senator, governor or vice president was Dwight Eisenhower.) A record 20 women are now members of the Senate, a sign of progress but still well below the gender parity of the United States. Only six racial minorities are senators, while five are governors.

President Obama election changed the face of leadership in Washington. But his victory in some ways suggested the fall of barriers that still exist. Many black lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and in state legislatures represent majority-black districts that are not ideal places from which to aspire for higher office, as many of those districts force the potential candidates into accumulating liberal records that may not be ideal for a statewide run and also have limited bases for fundraising.

What sets them apart

These three candidates have so far successfully navigated those challenges.

Being a minority in a party desperate for minority voices, Scott likely benefited from being black at times. He was effectively the only candidate considered when then-Sen. Jim DeMint resigned to head the Heritage Foundation.

Brown, a Harvard Law school graduate and Iraq War veteran, and Booker, a Rhodes Scholar who attended Yale Law School, both took the Obama route of emphasizing their elite credentials to non-black audiences (like campaign donors) while also appealing to African-Americans.

Follow Perry Bacon on Twitter at @perrybaconjr.