Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator struggling to be the only black candidate on the Democratic debate stage this month, has warned that the party could hand re-election to Donald Trump unless it sends a more positive message to African American voters.
Booker has just four days left to meet stringent criteria set by the party for the next televised primary debate, in Los Angeles on 19 December. Should he fail to make the cut, the participants will be exclusively white, with more billionaires on stage than black people.
About 4.4 million voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 stayed home in 2016. More than a third were black.
“There would be a President Hillary Clinton right now if the African American turnout had been close to what it had been in 2012,”
“There would be a President Hillary Clinton right now if the African American turnout had been close to what it had been in 2012,”
Booker said. “That’s how real is the power and influence of the Democratic party’s most loyal voting base.”He added: “That’s why we have to make sure there’s a candidate on that stage that black and brown people in this country can trust, in whom they see their lived experience.”
The issue of the fading diversity in the Democratic race has become a major talking point in the wake of the California senator Kamala Harris dropping out for lack of funds.
With Harris out, the spotlight is increasingly falling to Booker. He has been quick to sound the alarm over the consequences of black voters feeling undervalued as election year approaches.
