Black Women Carried Democrats to Victory—Again

Welcome to the “Blacklash.” Focused on a campaign of mass disenfranchisement, the Trump administration maneuvered every which way to curb voting rights. But fed-up African Americans responded by flocking to the polls across the country, especially in the Deep South.

Black voters helped propel Democratic candidates to major wins, and Black women candidates to historic ones. Black women turned out to vote—as they always have—so all these ingredients fueled a dynamic and decisive repudiation of the White House–led attempt to turn the clock back on African American voting rights.

The latest wave of racial gerrymandering had the opposite effect on Election Day. After the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling destroyed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision that prohibited discriminatory voting laws, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Southern states redrew their congressional maps to spread Black voters out into adjoining white districts to dilute their political participation and representation, and to ensure victories for Republican candidates.

Instead, on Election Day the GOP dummymandered themselves into being the minority party in Congress. Some races were still too close for comfort. In Alabama’s reconfigured Second Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Shomari Figures prevailed despite the new borders and won nearly 54 percent of the vote. Alabama state lawmakers had passed congressional maps meant to propel his Republican opponent, Rhett Marques, to victory.

In other races, gerrymandering worked, but just barely. In Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson faced off against Republican Brent Taylor and lost by a single percentage point. The district had been redrawn to give Taylor a 21-percentage-point advantage.

“It shows Republicans and those [people] that sought to legally gerrymander—based on partisan preferences for elected officials to choose their constituents rather than their constituents choosing their electors—that Black people are prepared, and they’re going to the polls in larger numbers,” says Nadia Brown, a professor of government at Georgetown University. “What we’re seeing now is that Black voters have really turned out, and Republicans have stayed home.”

NBC’s exit polls indicated that 93 percent of Black women voted for Democratic candidates. States that offer early voting found that more Black voters took advantage of it this year. In Georgia, more than 560,000 Black women voted before November 3, up 31 percent from 2022. More than 330,000 Black men also voted early, up 27 percent from 2022.

In Georgia’s governor’s race, Keisha Lance Bottoms became the country’s first Black female governor, winning 54 percent of the vote to her Republican challenger Rick Jackson’s 45 percent. Seven other Black women also won statewide races for attorney general, secretary of state, state schools superintendent, labor commissioner, agriculture commissioner, insurance commissioner, and state public service commissioner.

In Mississippi’s jaw-dropping—and ongoing—Senate race, exit polls showed that 99 percent of Black women cast their ballots for Democrat Scott Colom. With affidavit ballots still being counted, Colom continues to hold a narrow lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Coalition-building and grassroots activism led by, and for, Black women has translated into significant voter turnout.

Over the past eight years, former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams’s voting rights groups have invested millions in Mississippi, assisting Colom and others. “The investments that Black women have made to support and uplift democracy have just been pivotal,” says Christine Slaughter, a professor of political science at Boston University. “It sometimes just pays off elections later.”

In Florida’s Senate special election race, Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist unknown outside the state, stunned the country, coming within three percentage points of beating Republican incumbent Ashley Moody. Black women constitute around 6 percent of the state’s voters; exit polls found that 94 percent of Black women cast their ballots for Nixon.

Black women are already on the fringes of Democratic politics, and Black women progressives even more so. Democratic establishment leaders are simply less interested in untested candidates. Predictably, Nixon’s grassroots campaign did not attract significant investment from the party or PACs, nor did she receive many high-profile endorsements. A handful of established progressive voices offered their support, such as Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Closer to Election Day, former President Barack Obama gave Nixon thumbs-up video; but didn’t appear on the campaign trail.

“Black women candidates have shown and said time and time again that they do more with less resources,” says Brown. “So, the political party thinks about this in an economic way. Why put money into races for groups of people that have shown that they don’t necessarily need as much, but they’re going to come out and do the work anyway?”

Activist groups, political organizations, and ordinary Black women are used to doing voting rights work that benefits everyone, not just themselves. Black women tend to think collectively when they participate in politics, according to Chryl Laird, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. “This doesn’t mean that they’re diminishing their own individual importance as part of their behavior, but that their orientation is one that is intertwined with the well-being of the racial community.”

One reason why Black progressive candidates saw such tremendous success in 2026 is that many Black organizers spent the past year getting voters up to speed on issues that transcend race, such as employment losses. The unemployment rate for Black women rose from 5.6 percent to 6.8 percent in September. A July report published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) showed that since January of 2025, 600,000 Black women have been pushed out of the workforce. Federal jobs losses have had a disproportionate impact on Black women, comprising nearly 35 percent of all cuts.

The affordability crisis also stings. Nearly 40 percent of middle-income African Americans have challenges paying for the basics. Young people are also in dire straits. Young white Americans 25 and under have 16 times the wealth of young African Americans. These complications are farther compounded by the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Yet amid the initial euphoria and relief, post-election doubts remain. Will the historic blue wave enable a new generation of African American women politicians, especially in Congress, to fundamentally address the employment disparities and affordability issues facing Black rural, urban, and suburban communities? Black voters often lament that the Democratic Party relies on their votes but scarcely responds to their problems between elections. Black women intrinsically understand these concerns and want to see the candidates they’ve elected address them long before the next sets of campaign mailers go out.