It’s not exactly breaking news that Democrats are more diverse than Republicans, but looking at the numbers is still an eye-opener. By one estimate, Republicans are on track to have 87 percent of their House members be white men, while Democrats are looking at more like 37 percent. Democrats have nominated a record number of women for House, while Republicans might see a drop from their already pathetic numbers.
The racial divide is even starker. House Republicans now count just over a dozen minority members, a number that’s not expected to change much after the election.
Meanwhile, African-American, Latino and Asian-American lawmakers make up almost half the House Democratic caucus. And for the first time, less than half the Democratic candidates for the House are white men, and the Democrats are poised to send the first Native American and Muslim-American women to the House.
Catering exclusively to white people—and especially white men—has worked for Republicans for a long time. Now they’re in a race to keep everyone else from voting to maintain their ability to win as the country gets less white. That, too, may work for them for a while. But they don’t represent the United States of America, and all you have to do is look at them to see that. After these elections, that divide will be all the more visible in Congress.
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