Politics
Why do very few African-American politicians run, and not win?
President Obama won a second term last week, but it wasn’t a great week for other African-American candidates.
Despite Obama’s big win, there remain no black senators, only one African-American was even nominated for major statewide office, and black candidates lost seven of eight competitive House races, six of them by very close margins.
The end result: the number of African-Americans in the House will likely remain the same in 2013 as it was this Congress.
As of this weekend, three of the eight House races that had yet to be called featured black Republicans. All of them appear to have lost.
Two of those House races ended just in the last couple of days, with Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) and Arizona GOP candidate Vernon Parker both losing by very small margins.
The same was true in Utah, where GOP rising star Mia Love under-performed late polls and lost to Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah). Love, who would have been the first black Republican congresswoman, conceded on election night, though the race has yet to be called.
Another much-hyped candidate on the Democratic side, Val Demings, closed late in her race with Rep. Dan Webster (R-Fla.) but came up short. Also in Florida, former state senator Al Lawson (D) lost to Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.).
These five candidates lost by an average of 2.8 points, and none lost by more than 5 points.
