Leaders of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are increasingly worried about the lack of diversity among its delegates ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
As Politico reports, the DNC is falling short of its own self-imposed goals for diversity levels, with some senior officials concerned over how many White delegates there will be at the convention next year.
“I keep looking at these diversity goals in big states like New York, like California. And, for some reason, whether it’s the African American community, black community, the LGBTQ+ community, or Hispanic community, [the] numbers continue to decrease,” said former chairwoman Donna Brazile at a recent committee gathering in Washington, D.C.
“It raises a red flag in my judgment,” she said in a subsequent interview. “And then I try to find out what the hell is it.”
Some within the DNC believe that the visuals of a predominantly White crowd at the 2024 Democratic National Convention will become symbolic of Joe Biden’s struggling re-election campaign, as the incumbent president’s support continues to decrease among most minority groups.
Whereas Biden received the support of 91% of black voters in 2020, recent polls from both CBS News and Quinnipiac University have found his support among the key demographic now down to the low-70s or 80s. Despite winning Hispanics by a 28-point margin in 2020, similar polls have shown him now holding a mere single-digit lead among the bloc in a likely rematch against former President Donald Trump.
“We were kind of looking at each other, like, ‘Hey, this number seems to be going in the wrong direction here,’” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist who previously worked for Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign in 2016.
In addition to the more prominent purpose of selecting a presidential and vice presidential nominee at the convention every four years, party delegates also play a role in building the party’s infrastructure, recruiting and maintaining working relationships with the party’s most active members in all 50 states.
The party’s current diversity goals are based on an elaborate formula targeting seven groups in particular: African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ Americans, young Americans (those under the age of 35), and disabled Americans.