My belief, Farai, is you never take any vote for granted. You work for every vote. Yes, more blacks and Latinos will vote for the Democratic candidate, but winning 95 percent of the black vote as President Obama did versus 88 percent as John Kerry did in 2004 can be the difference between winning and losing.
Farai Chideya
Clinton went through a laundry list of the families of black victims of police or vigilante violence who she has met with. The Clintons historically had a very, very strong link to the black community, and of course Bill was called “The first black president.” And then, in 2008, after winning strong endorsements from black elected officials at first, Clinton saw them begin to switch allegiance to Obama. I remember when Congressman John Lewis switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama, shortly before Obama won the 2008 South Carolina primary. Clinton then watched more of her endorsements evaporate. So … Nate, Harry — do you think Clinton — and all the other Democratic candidates — have to hustle for black and Latino votes? Some people consider those demographics a Dem lock, particularly given the early Trump rhetoric about Mexico. I don’t ever think anything is a lock. (See: Clinton endorsement, John Lewis.)
Micah Cohen
As the debate turns to race and higher education, check out this recent piece we did on the racial gap at U.S. colleges. You can read the whole piece here.
