Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, and Ben Jealous bid for governorships as Democrats pin hopes on an increasingly diverse electorate

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

When Andrew Gillum launched his bid for the 2018 governor’s race in Florida, America’s largest battleground state, Democratic party leaders wrote off the 39-year-old progressive mayor of Tallahassee.

The party establishment had coalesced behind the former congresswoman Gwen Graham, who over the next 17 months would remain the frontrunner in most polls – while Gillum was poised to finish fourth in a crowded field.



But Florida voters had other ideas: on Tuesday, Gillum pulled off a stunning upset and emerged as the Democratic nominee in what will be one of the most closely watched contests of the 2018 midterm elections.



In doing so, Gillum also became Florida’s first black nominee for governor and joined the ranks of other Democrats seeking to make history in a breakthrough year for candidates of color.



Stacey Abrams, a former state legislator, is vying to become the country’s first black female governor, in neighboring Georgia, while Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP, hopes to become the first black governor in the state of Maryland. Only two black governors have ever been elected in the United States.

The success of black candidates comes at a time when Donald Trump has stoked racial tensions from the office of the presidency, teeing up a stark contrast between the two parties in both representation and tone.



In addition to people of color, a record number of women, Muslims and LGBT candidates are running for elected office – most of them as Democrats.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stacey Abrams hopes to become the country’s first black female governor. Photograph: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

They have railed against Trump’s policies on immigration – from his travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries to his policy of separating families at the border – at the same time that Republicans on the ballot are issuing dark warnings about MS-13, gang violence and crime.



Both parties are betting on a surge in turnout as Americans head to the polls on 6 November. Their fate may well be determined by who wins out between an increasingly diverse electorate and Trump’s nationalist base.

'You don’t tell yourself no': Stacey Abrams' bid to be America's first black female governor Read more

“Now that you have Trump in office, who is a direct and material and tangible threat to the safety and citizenship and the health and the finances of nonwhite people in America, you have people more driven to engage in voting than they have been in their lifetimes,” said Jason Johnson, a professor of political science and communications at Morgan State University.



Gillum’s victory in Florida’s gubernatorial primary was aided in large part by young voters and African Americans, who turned out heavily in his favor. The results marked the fruition of a strategy rooted in appealing to demographics often discounted in midterms.



Susan MacManus, a retired University of South Florida political science professor, said Gillum “bucked the normal pattern of campaigning in a primary”.

“From the get-go, it was clear that his strategy was to try to appeal to minority voters and younger voters,” she said.

“There’s been some articulation among black candidates and black activists that the Democratic party was taking them for granted and just assuming they would vote.”

Gillum campaigned on college campuses and at black churches, and was the only Democratic candidate to show up at an NAACP forum in Tampa just over a week before the Florida primary. He garnered support from black activists.



“African American voters are starting to realize the importance of non-presidential elections and really stepping up the involvement in terms of turnout and advocacy,” said Jamal Watkins, the vice-president of civic engagement for the NAACP.



“That’s a game-changer.”



The push among minority voters to expend their political capital was not simply about representation, Watkins added, but issues that range from job security to access to healthcare and education.

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Gillum, Abrams and Jealous campaigned on unapologetically progressive platforms and earned the coveted endorsement of the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

All three candidates backed Medicare-for-all and raising the minimum wage and touted policies geared toward reducing income inequality. They built a coalition spanning nonwhite, young and white progressive voters, reminiscent of the strategy that twice helped propel Barack Obama to the White House.

“You don’t get 76% of the Democratic primary vote just because you got black people excited about you,” said Johnson, citing Abrams’ landslide victory in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary in May.

“You get that because you put together a collection of voters who see you not just as a representation of their values, but also who see you as someone who can win.”

The legacy of Obama, Johnson added, paved the way for candidates of color who might otherwise have been ignored.



Play Video 0:56 Democrat Andrew Gillum speaks after surprise victory in Florida primary – video

“You have this synthesis of both white Americans and black Americans and Asian Americans ... realizing collectively that a black person can now run statewide or obviously for executive office and win.”



It nonetheless took mere hours for race to emerge as a factor in the head-to-head contest between Gillum and his Republican opponent Ron DeSantis.

In an interview with Fox News, DeSantis, a congressman from Florida, referred to Gillum as “an articulate spokesman” before stating: “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state.”

DeSantis’ use of the phrase “monkey this up” while discussing Gillum’s candidacy was swiftly dubbed as a dog whistle; Gillum said the comment was anything but implicit, telling CNN of his opponent: “He’s apparently given up the whistle; they’ve gone to the bullhorn with these kinds of tactics.”

Play Video 0:46 'Don't monkey this up': Republican hopeful for Florida governor accused of using racial slur – video

Ron DeSantis tells Florida voters not to 'monkey this up' by choosing Gillum Read more

DeSantis attempted to clarify his remarks, stating they were in reference to Gillum’s policies while dismissing perceived links to racial stereotypes as “absurd”. He refused, however, to issue an apology, telling conservative host Laura Ingraham: “I’m not going to apologize because I didn’t say anything about race.”

But even Fox News distanced itself from DeSantis amid the backlash. “We do not condone this language and wanted to make our viewers aware that he has since clarified his statement,” the anchor Sandra Smith, to whom DeSantis made the original comments, said on air.

The controversy underscored how quickly the debate could veer from policy differences to personal attacks, particularly in the age of Trump.



The president’s own record of making inflammatory statements on race, while pushing a restrictive agenda on immigration and civil rights, is an unmistakable force in driving turnout on both sides this election cycle.

With the results of midterms ultimately hinging on turnout, many Republican candidates are fashioning themselves in Trump’s likeness – while Democrats, in turn, have seized on Trump’s discriminatory rhetoric to motivate minority voters to come to the polls.

“The racism that’s coming from the White House and certain folks on the side of this administration has really galvanized the base and made people say: ‘We’re going to demand respect and we’re going to do it at the polls,’” said Watkins.

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“Folks are fed up with racially divisive tactics that don’t speak to the needs of communities.”

Republicans acknowledge Trump is in equal parts asset and liability; while the president retains overwhelming support from Republican primary voters, his low approval ratings nationally could figure heavily in November’s general election.

Asked about the potential for Trump, who endorsed DeSantis, to influence the Florida governor’s race, Gillum declined to hold back.

“I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor who’s going to bring us together, not divide us,” Gillum told CNN. “Not misogynist, not racist, not bigots.”