Mayor Eric Adams said he was thrilled that the Democratic Party is “prioritizing Black voters” as it moved to have its first presidential primary shifted to South Carolina, calling the plan a “tectonic change in how Democrats are messaging their priorities as a party,” in a CNN-published op-ed this week.
The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm voted earlier this month to make South Carolina, not Iowa, the site of the first presidential nominating contest in 2024 after President Biden called on the party to cater to a more diverse electorate as Democrats have been losing black voters in recent years.
The Iowa Caucuses have been the first test for Democratic White House contenders since 1972, followed by primaries and caucuses in New Hampshire and Nevada.
The DNC voted to move the South Carolina primary up to its first nominating contest, which had been held in Iowa. Getty ImagesBlack people make up 4% of Iowa’s population, 2% of New Hampshire and 11% of Nevada, but constitute 27% of the Palmetto State, according to recent US Census estimates.
“This bold move feels like faith rewarded in a party that many of us from lower-income, Black backgrounds feel has taken our communities for granted,” wrote Adams, 62.
“And as the leader of the largest city in the United States, with a Black population of about 2 million people, I am thrilled that we are making this statement,” wrote the city’s second mayor of color.
Adams wrote in an op-ed that the move would be a “tectonic change” for his party. William Farrington“But this move must be more than symbolic. It must be the beginning of a new push that addresses the concerns of all people of color and working-class people, many of whom feel the party has misrepresented their beliefs. In short, this is a pivotal opportunity to reprioritize our party’s primary policies as well.”
Adams wrote that the move came as Republicans had managed to attract more black voters in 2022 as “the foundation of our base cracked in key states and congressional districts.”
He called on the government to build and subsidize new affordable housing, expand the earned income tax credit and child care programs while investing in police.
South Carolina has a higher percentage of black voters than Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada combined. TNS“They want what they have earned,” Adams said of black people. “They work hard, and, at a minimum, they should not have to worry about crime, schools, child care, health care or housing.
“This is not some socialist dream. Those are the basics that they paid for by doing the jobs that keep our country running.”
