Women of Color political group plans forum to question 2020 Presidential candidates
It’s been proven that Black women have the power to turn out the vote.
And now a group called “She the People,” which brings women of color in politics together, is planning to tap into that power and host a forum in April to question the upcoming presidential candidates, the organization announced Thursday, Buzzfeed reports.
Black women had the highest voter turnout rates of all groups in 2008 and 2012 when president Barack Obama made history, and the second highest in 2016 when they overwhelmingly cast ballots for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
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While no candidates have been secured for the “She the People” forum just yet the founder, Aimee Allison, spoke about the power of the Black female vote.
“I want it to be clear: No one will be the Democratic Party nominee without the support of women of color — that’s the clear message. We are the new American majority,” Allison told BuzzFeed News over a phone call. “It’s long past the time for a forum that focuses on the issues that are important to the base of the Democratic Party.”
“Women of color, as a voting bloc, are the backbone of the Democratic Party and we’re really leading the way with these issues, and we’ve shown that we can get behind candidates of different genders and different races and really affect an election,” Allison recently told BuzzFeed News. “But now we’re demanding way more from the candidates. They need to speak directly to us, and anything short just isn’t going to cut it.”
While not all of the Democratic hopefuls have announced yet, Sen. Kamala Harris has launched her bid as well as Senator Elizabeth Warren. Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard both also announced that they were running for the presidential seat.
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Senators. Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker are both reportedly weighing their options on whether to run.
The forum is expected to be hosted at Texas Southern University in Houston.
How to Assess the Candidates
Democratic strategist Che Watkins shared her tips for Black voters to assess the field of Democratic candidates based on the four P’s: