Nicarra Campbell-Wallace, a former political director of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, is launching a new organization, the Rolling Sea Fund, according to NBC News.
The organization will be aligned with, but not affiliated directly with, the Democratic Congressional Black Caucus. It will focus on increasing Black voter engagement, flipping the House majority in favor of the Democrats, and electing the first Black Speaker of the House.
“We know that Black voters are the cornerstone of the Democratic Party and of protecting American democracy,” Campbell-Wallace said. “This will be something where we have an always-on effort to empower and mobilize Black voters and make sure that we are reflecting the diversity and amazingness of America. We recognize as Democrats that we can do more and support Black voters who have been the cornerstone of our democracy, have turned out in record numbers overwhelmingly.”
The name is a nod to the Black National Anthem,” Lift Every Voice and Sing,” reflecting the group’s focus on Black voters and Black issues.
However, another aim of the group is to get Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to sit as Speaker of the House. The group’s expected initial funding of ten million dollars will go a long way toward this long-term goal while it addresses the short-term goal of gaining the five seats required to give Democrats control of the House.
Focused on states where the average Black voter engagement is around 8%, this allows the PAC to choose battles that it sees as vital as opposed to spreading itself too thin in contests that it may not be able to affect efficiently.
Recent numbers suggest that Black people are losing confidence in the party. In 2009, 76% of Black voters polled by NBC News had a favorable view of the Democrats, but in April 2023, that number had fallen to 61%. Thus, the PAC’s focus on Black voters is equal parts response and reassurance that is of paramount importance to the Democratic Party’s long-term prospects.
According to the Huffington Post, as recently as 2020, there have been efforts aimed at increasing the diversity in the Democratic Party’s junior ranks, such as congressional aides. These efforts led to an increased presence of diverse vendors who were given contracts by the Democratic Party.
More recently, Black lawmakers have grown frustrated with what seems to be a lack of progress by the Biden administration when it comes to prioritizing issues that Black constituents care about. The lack of student loan forgiveness, as student loan debt disproportionately affects Black people, coupled with failures to pass meaningful criminal justice reform laws or increase voter protections with a Democratic majority in the Senate signaled a lack of concern with issues directly affecting Black people.
As Kevin Harris, former executive director of the CBC, told the
New York Times: “It’s a difficult conversation to go back into those (Black) communities and explain why we didn’t get criminal justice reform. It’s a difficult conversation to go into those communities and talk about why we didn’t get the protections that we need with voting rights. That’s a hard conversation to have. But you still go have it.”If all goes right with this new PAC, perhaps Democrats will have to do less explaining about what they didn’t get done and more talking about the things they have accomplished for their most consistent voting bloc.
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