Moderate Black Politicians Continue Historical Rise By Terry M. Neal washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Friday, August 23, 2002; 1:32 PM

When a reporter asked Rep. Cynthia McKinney's father, state Rep. Billy McKinney, why his daughter was having such a tough go of it against her opponent in the Georgia Democratic primary, he whipped out that old canard about the Jews controlling everything. And in case the reporter didn't get it, he spelled it out for good measure: J-E-W-S.

Many of McKinney's supporters, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, have blamed the congresswoman's loss on the fact that Jewish voters from outside the state contributed heavily to McKinney's primary opponent, a politically moderate, African American, former judge named Denise Majette. The national media in particular has eagerly glommed onto the issue.

While the Jews vs. African Americans angle is sexy and controversial, it's also a facile oversimplification. McKinney's loss had as much to do with the fact that she found herself to the left of many of her black, middle-class constituents — a significant number of whom were put off by her controversial statements and combative style. Her loss to Majette underscores the social changes that have led to the rise of moderate black politicians, such as former Dallas mayor and Texas Senate candidate Ron Kirk, Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), D.C. Mayor Tony Williams, among others.

Trend or Isolated Case?

McKinney's loss comes just a couple months after another of her Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.) lost his primary to a younger, more moderate black challenger named Artur Davis. In that race, as in this one, campaign contributions from pro-Israel groups and individuals from outside the state poured in to Davis, while Hilliard racked up dollars from pro-Arab and Muslim organizations, just as McKinney did. And earlier this year, a young, politically moderate former Newark City Councilman named Cory Booker lost a competitive race for the mayor's office to an older, liberal five-term incumbent Sharpe James, who made an issue of Booker's Jewish connections and contributions.

But beyond the Israel/Arab issue, there were plenty of other stark differences in temperament, tone and substance among candidates in all of these contests. The fact that Majette, Davis and Booker were viable candidates at all suggests perhaps not a sea change in black politics, but an ongoing shift and maturation. The black electorate is increasingly independent and moderate, scornful of old-style machine politics, and ultimately, less responsive to the civil-rights era rhetoric that ushered the first significant wave of black politicians into office in the 1960's and early 1970's.

Because African Americans make up only about 13 percent of the U.S. population, the focus in politics has been on resisting efforts by whites to "divide and conquer." But as blacks as a group have become more affluent, class and generational differences have become increasingly stark, with younger, professional-class blacks more open to moderate and conservative ideas (albeit not conservative politicians). What has been bubbling up for years finally has begun playing itself out in the national spotlight this year.

This year, many black voters in McKinney's district seemed just as put off as white voters by her suggestion that President Bush knew about the Sept. 11 terror attacks ahead of time and that many in his administration stood to profit from the attacks. Some number of blacks apparently were not happy that she apologized to a Saudi prince after New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani rejected his $10 million gift for 9/11 victims. And some found her effort to portray Majette as an establishment sell-out a bit over the top. (Among other things, McKinney ran an ad on black radio — at a time when the media was reporting on a horrible case of police brutality in California — comparing Majette to an "angry, out-of-control police officer beating up a prisoner.").

Several journalists, including Darryl Fears of The Washington Post, Lynette Clemetson of the New York Times and Ben Smith of the Atlanta Journal Constitution have explored the issue of the shifting black electorate in recent days.

In a story yesterday, Smith wrote that Majette ran well in predominantly black areas of Dekalb County, particularly the affluent ones. "Majette's victory, with 58 percent of the vote, confirmed the emergence of affluent African-Americans as an independent political base, an electorate apparently turned off by McKinney's controversial persona," he wrote.

He quoted several African Americans who voted for Majette.

"I think she [McKinney] doesn't fully understand her constituency at this point," said one of those voters, a contractor named Curtis Rush.

This is not to say a majority of African Americans voted for McKinney, who brought in Louis Farrakhan to campaign for her over the weekend. In a Post story that ran a few days before Tuesday's election, Fears captured the extent to which the choice between two very qualified, intelligent African American women was dividing black voters. And in the Times, Clemetson smartly addressed the issue as well as the backlash from African Americans who believe outside Jewish influence unfairly impacted this race (Majette raised a little more than $1 million, with much of it coming from pro-Israel groups and individuals; McKinney raised about $600,000, with much coming from pro-Arab and Muslim groups and individuals).

All of the numbers aren't in yet, but McKinney's pollster, Ron Lester, estimated yesterday that McKinney lost perhaps a third of the black vote and 90 percent of the white vote in a district that's almost evenly split among blacks and whites. Even he acknowledged the impact that some of McKinney's rhetoric had on the outcome of Tuesday's election.

"A large segment of the voters approved of her performance on domestic matters," said Lester, who is African American. "But the feeling that she crossed a line on this 9/11 thing really hurt her."

The Background

I wrote about the phenomenon of the changing black political electorate in The Washington Post's Outlook section four years ago. In that piece, I made the argument that while the vast majority of blacks are in no way defecting to the GOP, neither are many black voters beholden any longer to the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

Among the examples I used was the reaction to the welfare reform bill of 1996. When President Clinton signed the bill, the Democratic National Committee feared a backlash among black voters.

The DNC commissioned Lester to do a poll to gauge the fallout. Lester's poll found that 58 percent of blacks actually supported the welfare reform bill. Lester said at the time that he was "surprised" by the results.

How does one account for the fact that a strong majority of African Americans supported welfare reform while only two out of the 40-odd members of the black caucus voted in favor of it?

Much of it has to do with the fact that many moderate African American voters still see leaders such as McKinney, Johnson, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and others as forceful representatives against a GOP that they perceive to be hostile to their interests. The differences they may occasionally have with those leaders pale in comparison with their perceived differences with Republican leaders.

So the question is not so much whether these voters will defect to the GOP, but what they will do when presented with two viable black Democratic candidates who have clear ideological differences, such as in the McKinney/Majette and Hilliard/Davis races.

In an interview this morning, University of Maryland government and politics professor Ron Walters, who is African American, agreed that "black middle class like all middle class people are somewhat risk averse" and uncomfortable with strident rhetoric. But he also agrees with Johnson, the congresswoman, that the effort of Jews outside McKinney's and Hilliard's district to influence the race is a potentially troubling development.

"Sure, people have a right to do this [contribute to any campaign they wish]," Walters said. "But it has consequences. If [black voters] don't turn out to vote for their congressperson, they're not going to come out to vote for their senator or president or whatever. And that will hurt Democrats."

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2002