Black women have long played a key role in protecting voting rights and urging their communities to cast ballots. This three-part series highlights their work as they build political power and demand a seat at the table.
WILMINGTON, Del. ‒ Lisa Blunt Rochester adjusted the plastic white helmet on her head, then leaned over to pick up a shovel, scoop up some dirt and toss it toward the television cameras set up on the tarmac of Wilmington’s regional airport.
Even with the cameras turned off, Delaware’s lone congresswoman beamed one recent morning as Sen. Tom Carper held tight to her hand.
“I urged everyone within the sound of my voice and across the state to support Lisa,’’ Carper, who is retiring from his post as one of the state’s U.S. senators, told a reporter.
He said young girls will study Blunt Rochester’s bid to become the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in the Senate. “She’s going to inspire a lot of other young girls,’’ he said.
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It was a full circle moment for the Delaware congresswoman. Years ago, while working for Carper, then a congressman, she helped write grants asking for money to expand the airport. Now, she stood under a white tent touting the $5.6 million for the expansion and campaigning for Carper’s Senate seat.
“Going to an event like that and seeing folks that I worked with for many, many years ‒ it’s like we’re really doing it, you know, not just talking about it,” Blunt Rochester said later that afternoon.
In neighboring Maryland a couple of days later, Angela Alsobrooks hopped on stage in the Student Services Center at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus, addressing about two dozen students at the historically Black school.
Alsobrooks, 53, ticked off her history as the state’s first domestic violence prosecutor and as the executive of Prince George’s County, a suburban community just outside of Washington.
She went on.
There are no women representing Maryland in Congress.
And there have only been two Black women ever elected to the U.S. Senate, she told the students.
“It’s in America’s best interest that we have people representing us who understand us, who live like us, and who make decisions for us,” Alsobrooks said.
If they win their bids next month, Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks, both Democrats, are poised to make history as the first two Black women to serve in the U.S. Senate at the same time.
They would be among only five Black women ever to serve in the 235-year-old history of the upper chamber, so their bids for the open Senate seats have drawn national attention.
“It’s a record to be celebrated because we’ve never seen it before and diversity and the voices in the United States Senate matters,’’ said Deborah Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “Black women’s voices need to be at the table because they make a difference. They will see the world through a lens that is different, the way we want to have all kinds of diversity in these institutions.’’
But Walsh added: “It’s a record to give us pause. It could be 2024 and the largest number of Black women to serve at one time is only two. It should be more.”
Experts said their presence in the mostly white and male dominated Senate could not only change its make-up, but also affect discussions on the Senate floor and in committee rooms.
Also in the series:Three generations, one mission: Inside three women’s quest to protect the vote
Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks have said in addition to issues like job creation and economic development, they plan to champion reproductive rights, voting rights protections and reducing disparities in health care.
Although some people dismiss the focus of a candidate’s race or sex as political correctness, tokenism or unfair favoritism, Blunt Rochester said diversity is essential for America’s democracy.
“We bring something special to the table,’’ she said of Black women politicians. “There’s a special thing that we’re able to do in terms of bringing people together, in terms of problem solving. … Being at the table means that the work done at the table is better quality, I believe, because it’s inclusive of our experiences both our professional and lived experiences. But there’s also value in people seeing us in these spaces because then that means, ‘Hey, maybe I could do it (too).’’’
Getting the right experience
One challenge has been getting Black women the experience they need to serve at the national and even the statewide level, experts said.
Female candidates, particularly women of color, have long had more trouble raising funds for campaigns, Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., currently the only Black woman in the Senate, told USA TODAY.
“Women of color who are candidates get a fraction of the contributions that other candidates get,” said Butler, a former president of Emily’s List, which supports Democratic women running for office. “Money is a barrier and will be a barrier until we break those barriers down.”
That’s why it’s particularly important for political parties and others to support Black women running for the Senate “in winnable places like a Delaware and a Maryland,” Walsh said.
She pointed to a race in Baltimore a few years ago where a Black Republican woman ran for a seat in the U.S. House. A Republican, she said, isn’t going to win in largely Democratic Baltimore, regardless of their gender.
Only one Black Republican woman, former Utah Rep. Mia Love in office from 2015 to 2019, has ever served in Congress.
“We need those resources and that support for women running in places that women of whatever party can actually win,” Walsh said.
Chances of victory
Blunt Rochester’s seat is solidly Democrat, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Still, Blunt Rochester, 62, who is also national co-chair of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, said she’s not taking victory for granted. She’s held roundtables with veterans and Black small business owners. She’s visited barbershops. She’s campaigned across the state.
In Maryland, Alsobrooks faces Larry Hogan, a popular former GOP governor.
“You have to take that seriously, which we are,’’ said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, adding that Alsobrooks is a “very strong candidate.”
Still, he said, governors get lots of media attention. “He already comes in with that kind of name ID. She just needs to get to be better known, which she’s doing,” Peters said. “That does cost money. … But I’m confident she will win.”
That seat is rated “likely Democratic,” according to the Cook Political Report.
A third Black female senate candidate, Valerie McCray, also a Democrat, is vying for a seat in Indiana.
Running in a very conservative state makes her a long-shot candidate, and she’s being outspent almost 80-to-1.
But McCray, a clinical psychologist, who is facing Republican Rep. Jim Banks, said she’s confident voters want new leadership.
“They want a person who hasn’t been jaded by the system, that’s not a cookie-cutter politician,” she told USA TODAY.
Black women underrepresented
Three Black women, all Democrats, have served in the U.S. Senate. Two were elected ‒ Carol Moseley Braun from Illinois, who served from 1993 to 1999, and Kamala Harris from California, who served from 2017 to 2021 and left to become vice president.
Butler was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last year to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Butler opted not to run for the seat in 2024.
She said she’s turned to others, including Harris, for support during her short tenure.
“I try to rely on that trusted network that has really sort of wrapped their arms around me my entire career,” Butler told USA TODAY in an interview earlier this year. “I try to find comfort and solace as well as the kick in the butt because a lot of times it is just about being kicked in the butt.”
Black women make up nearly 8% of the nation’s population, but are disproportionately left out of politics.
Eleven Black women serve in statewide elected posts, 28 are in Congress and two are U.S. delegates, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. There is one Black woman in the Senate. A Black woman has never been elected governor of any state.
There have been some firsts this Congress, including the first time three Black women are part of the Ohio delegation. All three are up for reelection.
A panel at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s legislative conference last month, brought Blunt Rochester, Alsobrooks and Butler together in Washington. The room was packed with Black organizers, students, policymakers and strategists.
During the discussion, which at times became emotional for the panelists, Butler said she’s excited about the push to elect more than one Black woman to the Senate.
“I’m excited for the doors that they’re going to kick open when we were no longer counting how many, but that we are welcoming women, Black women, women of color, women of all experiences and walks of life to the highest chamber in our United States government,” Butler said.
She noted the important role senators play, including confirming federal judges. Butler has, among other issues, also pushed to protect voting rights.
Blunt Rochester said there are some issues she plans to champion that particularly impact communities of color, including the high rates of maternal deaths and student debt.
Alsobrooks agreed.
“We intend to be quite bold,’’ she said. “Our very presence changes the room.”
‘Important that we have that representation’
At the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, students crowded around the rotunda, stopping to listen to Alsobrooks on their way to class.
She sported a black and green T-shirt featuring her portrait in the style of former President Barack Obama’s iconic 2008 “Hope” poster – a reference to another historic election that took place just a few years after her audience was born.
Alsobrooks said her own daughter is only 19 years old, so she understands what their generation cares about: freedom. Freedom from gun violence, freedom to control their own bodies, and freedom to make a better life for themselves with quality education, affordable health care and economic opportunity.
And without naming him, Alsobrooks made her case against her GOP opponent, Hogan, whose entry into the race earlier this year immediately put the Democratic-leaning state in play for Republicans.
She said her race is key to keeping control of the U.S. Senate, where Democrats have a tough path forward this cycle. Republicans only need to claim two additional seats to win a majority, and one, West Virginia, is already a shoo-in with the retirement of independent Sen. Joe Manchin.
“The Senate is so important. It controls the agenda for our country,” she said.
Because of its importance, donors and the parties are funneling tens of millions of dollars into the tight race, though both candidates have taken a respectful approach to the other.
Jada Wilkinson, a junior from New York and the vice president of the school’s student government, was among the students who toured Alsobrooks around campus. She said she was shocked when she heard Alsobrooks say how few Black women had served in the Senate.
“My jaw literally dropped,” she said.
“It’s super important that we have that representation, having all types of people represented because all of us make up this country,” she added. “For her to be someone who can be that person, keep that course, it means a lot.”
The importance of being seen
One recent afternoon, Blunt Rochester sipped on a cortado ‒ a mix of espresso and warm milk ‒ at a quaint coffee shop in her old neighborhood in Wilmington. The Troisieme Café sits on a corner just blocks from where she grew up.
It was a brief stop between the airport expansion event that morning and an upcoming call with union officials.
Blunt Rochester said she’s loved being a member of Congress.
“I feel so grateful. … This job has brought my joy back,’’ she said, adding that it’s been 10 years since her husband, Charles, passed away and she ran for the House.
She was the first African American and first woman to represent the state in the U.S. House when she was sworn in in 2017.
She once worked for Carper, then a congressman, starting in 1988 as an intern, and told him she’d like to one day have his job. Carper, who is retiring after decades in politics, including in the House and Senate and as governor, has endorsed her. She will face GOP candidate Eric Hansen and independent Mike Katz, Nov. 5.
Carper, who described himself as Blunt Rochester’s biggest fan, said she “will inspire people for miles around of all colors.’’
“Maybe they’ll end up as president or governor even,” he said.
Being the first has had its challenges. Blunt Rochester recalled years ago attending an event with Sens. Carper and Chris Coons and not being acknowledged as a member of the congressional delegation. She called it a teachable moment for her colleagues.
She also recalled attending an event where the Confederate flag was displayed. For many African Americans the flag is a symbol of racism.
Still, Blunt Rochester said it’s important to be seen.
“It touches my heart when some kid says, ‘I did my report on you,’’’ she said. “It’s a very humbling experience and I think it’s important that you take it as an honor, not a burden.’’
She holds onto a business card her father, Ted Blunt, gave her that reads, “You can’t be what you don’t see.”
Blunt Rochester said Mosley Braun, now 77, the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, was one of the first people she called when she announced her own bid to run for the Senate.
“I just wanted to call her and thank her for being somebody I could see,’’ Blunt Rochester recalled.
Blunt Rochester later joined Mosely Braun, Butler and Alsobrooks at an event at a Chicago museum during the week of the Democratic National Convention this summer.
“Not only do I have them with me, I have my grandmothers with me. I have my mom. I have my daughters and my granddaughter and my dad,’’ Blunt Rochester said. “That means something to know you’re not alone, even when you’re the only one at the table.’’