ELECTION 2024: A Sista Sweep & A Reason to Weep

Hey Sis (and the Brothers who love us)!

Election 2024 was historic for Black women, y’all!

Not exactly the history so many among us thought would happen but STILL, the sisters got those accomplishments written in ink on the books. We’ll get to that in a minute. But first we must note the history that wasn’t:

Kamala Harris Loses Historic Presidential Bid

Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to be nominated for the presidency, lost her bid for the White House to former President Donald Trump. Had she won, Harris would’ve been the first woman president in U.S. history. Her defeat makes Trump the first chief executive since Grover Cleveland to get a second, non-consecutive term.

Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote by riding a strong wave of support from white women and Latino men, among others. According to exit poll data compiled by NBC News, 52% of white women voters — the largest voting demographic – cast their ballots for Trump, while 54% of Latino men and 20% of Black men joined 60% of white men in supporting Trump. Harris garnered 92% support from Black women and 61% of the Latina vote.

Harris conceded to Trump the next day during a phone call in which she also assured a peaceful transfer of power in keeping with U.S. political tradition. She delivered her concession speech before a crowd gathered on the Washington, D.C. campus of her alma mater, Howard University. You can watch Madam Vice President’s speech in its entirety here:

Elsewhere in the national capital region, there was a …

Herstoric Sweep In The DelMarVa

Delaware, Maryland and Virginia served up three reasons to celebrate! Voters in Delaware and Maryland made sure that, for the first time EVER, two Black women will serve in the U.S. Senate. And voters in Virginia’s 275-year-old city of Alexandria elected the town’s first Black woman mayor.

Democrats Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware are the first Black U.S. senators for their respective states. Blunt Rochester is also the first woman senator elected from Delaware. When they take office this coming January, they will bring to four the number of Black women, all Democrats, elected to serve in Congress’ upper chamber; the other two are Kamala Harris of California and Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois. The lone Black woman senator in the current Congress, Democrat Laphonza Butler of California, was appointed in 2023 to serve the remainder of the late Dianne Feinstein’s term.

Alsobrooks, 53, is the chief executive officer of Prince George’s County, Md. outside Washington, D.C., the first woman to serve in the role. A Prince George’s native, Alsobrooks garnered 52.2% of the vote to defeat former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Libertarian Mike Scott.

“There have been more than 2,000 people who have served in the United States Senate. And only three have looked like me,” Alsobrooks told supporters during her victory speech. “I want to salute all of those who came before me, who made it possible for me to stand on this stage tonight.”

In neighboring Delaware, Blunt Rochester, 62, defeated Republican Eric Hansen and independent Mike Katz with 56.6% of the vote. She also praised her Senate predecessors Braun, Harris and Butler as “strong Black women” who blazed a trail for her. “I have a message to the young people who are standing up, speaking up and giving your all to your country and the world,” Blunt Rochester said. “I see you, I’m grateful to you, and you’ve got next.”

In Virginia, Alexandria city councilwoman Alyia Gaskins, running unopposed, received 93% of the vote to become the city’s first Black woman mayor. In June, she defeated Vice Mayor Amy Jackson and retired developer Steven Peterson to win the Democratic nomination.

Special Shout-Outs

We’d like to pause for a moment to send special shout outs to these two noteworthy sisters who won their races and will continue getting into “good trouble” at the county and federal levels:

—Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who is returning to Congress after a decisive victory over Libertarian Jrmar Jefferson. “Let the MAGA TEARS flow!” she cheered on X, formerly known as Twitter.

—Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney who is prosecuting Trump for election interference, defeated Republican Courtney Kramer to win another four-year term.