These 2024 candidates could make Black history this Election Day
Election Day is upon us, and the entire country (and the globe) will be tuned in to determine its outcome. While there will be many winners and losers when it’s all said and done, some candidates stand to make Black history Tuesday night. Here are the races theGrio is tracking:
Kamala Harris
The most closely watched race will undoubtedly be the presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. While Harris has intentionally not made the historic component of her candidacy a focus of her presidential campaign, it is not an understatement to say that if she pulls off a win, she will forever be cemented in U.S. history.
If victorious, Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, would become the first Black woman elected to the presidency. Harris would also become only the second Black president in less than 20 years, marking a pivotal moment for Black Americans, who did not gain their full rights as citizens until just 59 years ago when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed into law. Black history aside, Harris would also make history as the first female and first South Asian president.
“This is a moment that I think every one of us sees as the opportunity of a lifetime,” said U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler, a Harris-Walz campaign surrogate and close friend of Harris. Butler told theGrio electing Harris is the “opportunity to truly lift America to its next level of greatness, to tell the story of what is possible when we choose to do things together.”
When asked about her potential breaking of glass ceilings for Black women and all women, Harris often quotes her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who told her after being elected district attorney in San Francisco, “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things; make sure you’re not the last.” Harris has also emphasized on many occasions that, despite her historic candidacy, she wants to be a president for “all” Americans.
Lisa Blunt Rochester
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester could become the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Delaware. She would also become only the fourth Black woman to serve in the Senate in its 235-year history. Blunt Rochester is a close ally of President Joe Biden, as they are from the same state.
The 62-year-old congresswoman was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016. She has served as co-chair of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and a member of the vetting committee for Biden’s vice presidential candidate selection, which ultimately selected Kamala Harris. She has also opened up about overcoming tragedy after losing her husband in 2014, which inspired her to run for Congress.
“I was a widow, not sure what I was going to do next with my life,” she previously told theGrio. “This moment changed everything for me.”
Blunt Rochester could also make history alongside Angela Alsobrooks, who is running for U.S. Senate in Maryland. If they’re both elected, Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks would mark the first time that two Black women served in the U.S. Senate at the same time.
“It is not lost on me that there have only been three women in the history of this country that served in the United States Senate,” Blunt Rochester told theGrio this past summer. Thinking about what the future holds for Black women in the upper chamber of Congress, she added, “And four and five are on the way.”
The Senate candidate said she’s also reflected on the possibility of seeing Black women leading in different capacities in the federal government. “We could have [a Black female] president and two Black senators, but we also have Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court. That, to me, it is just a source of pride, but also motivation,” Blunt Rochester told theGrio. Echoing Harris, she added, “If you ask any of us, we will tell you our goal is not just to be the first but to make sure that there are others that follow in our footsteps.”
Angela Alsobrooks
Like Lisa Blunt Rochester, Angela Alsobrooks could make history Tuesday night as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate from her state. In Maryland, Alsobrooks faces a tough competitor, former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. However, Maryland has reliably elected Democrats to the Senate for more than 30 years.
Alsobooks has framed Logan, who remains popular among Maryland voters, as anti-choice and warned that he would help Republicans pass a national abortion ban if his party takes back the majority in the Senate. Alsobrooks has also slammed Hogan as anti-voting rights and an opponent to gun safety legislation as he is aligned with the National Rifle Association.
She earned a juris doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law and worked as a line prosecutor at the Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s office. She was elected as Prince George’s County executive in 2018.
During her speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Alsobrooks talked about her humble beginnings, telling the story of her grandmother, who worked as a housekeeper and taught herself to type in order to get a good-paying government job.
“Stories like mine don’t usually make it to the United States Senate, but they should,” said Alsobrooks. “I’ve always been inspired by women like my grandmother. Women who imagine a better future, and then have the grit to make it a reality.”
Colin Allred
Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, could also make history in the U.S. Senate as the first Black person from Texas elected to the upper chamber of Congress. If victorious, Allred, a former NFL player turned attorney, would be etched in the history books, following in the footsteps of groundbreaking Black politicians from Texas like Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman from the South elected to the U.S. Congress, and Eddie Bernice Johnson, the first Black woman to represent Dallas in the U.S. House.
“Here in Texas, we have such a rich history, particularly as African-Americans,” said Allred, whose family’s lineage in Texas dates back four generations during U.S. slavery. The 41-year-old politician noted that during the Jim Crow era, his grandparents didn’t have the right to vote.
However, the congressman and former voting rights attorney acknowledged that Texas, a former confederate state, also “produced some of our biggest progress,” including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, two critical pieces of legislation that enfranchised Black Americans.
Joining that history, said Allred, would be “incredibly important for Texas, and for the country, for us to have a Black senator.”
Though Texas is known as a ruby-red state that overwhelmingly favors Republicans, Allred has managed to gain momentum in polls against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. “We can’t afford six more years of Ted Cruz,” Allred told theGrio. “Texas is this incredibly diverse, dynamic state. We’re not the state that [he], I think, represents us as.”
Janelle Bynum
In Oregon, State House Rep. Janelle Bynum is battling it out in a close congressional race against Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who won the seat in a district that President Joe Biden won in 2020. If elected, Bynum, 49, would become the first Black person to represent the district in a state with a Black population that is just 3%.
Bynum holds some advantage over Chavez-DeRemer, as the two faced off in two previous elections in the State House. In both contests, Bynum was victorious. Democrats are also hoping for a surge of support for Bynum driven by turnout for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. Bynum has also outraised her Republican opponent by more than $1 million.
According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, Bynum was born in Washington, D.C., and described herself as “one generation removed from segregation. ” The wife and mother of three was raised by two teachers, works as an engineer, and owns four McDonald’s fast-food restaurants.
Nick Brown
Former “Survivor” contestant and attorney Nick Brown, 47, could make history on Tuesday night as the first Black person to occupy an executive office in Washington state’s history. Brown is vying to become Washington’s attorney general.
“We are historically a very white city and state, and certainly our politics has been dominated by white folks,” said Brown, who grew up in Seattle. He told previously theGrio, “I love the idea of making history. Not just to be the first but to bring perspective as a Black man to the office to try to improve the way that we do justice in this state.”
“We’ve got a long way … to fully be inclusive and to fully include people’s voices and to make sure we’re not ignoring people that have been ignored for generations,” added Brown, who President Joe Biden appointed as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington in 2021.
The father of two and self-proclaimed proud “soccer dad” graduated from Morehouse College and Harvard Law School and served in the U.S. Army. Brown also worked as general counsel for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
If elected to the attorney general’s office, Brown told theGrio he hopes to “harness” it to give marginalized communities access and to be a “sounding board” for them.