Why white Democrats are so rare in the South
Montgomery, Ala. Alabama State Sen. Billy Beasley says it was the highest of compliments when a friend recently called him a "true Democrat."
The 74-year-old pharmacist also might soon be the only white Democrat left in the Alabama Senate, unless 30-year veteran Sen. Roger Bedford can make up a 60-vote deficit in an anticipated election recount.
White, Deep South Democrats have been on the decline for years, and none remain in Congress after Rep. John Barrow of Georgia was defeated Nov. 4. Their demise was perhaps nowhere more apparent than at the Alabama Statehouse, where the number of white Democrats in the 140-member legislature was cut in half from 14 to 7 on Election Day.
"They are not extinct. You can find some examples, but you really almost need a magnifying glass to find the Caucasian Democratic candidate," Jess Brown, a political scientist at Athens State University, said.
Democrats dominated the so-called Solid South from Reconstruction to the middle of the twentieth century.
The realignment began with Southerners' opposition to the Civil Rights Act 1964. What followed was a Goldwater-wave of several Southern states voting for Republicans' presidential nominee for the first time. It was sped along with the popularity of President Ronald Reagan and Southerners' identification with the GOP's stances on issues from abortion to guns.
"Democrats, when they were winning, would often say to voters, we're not like those national Democrats. But there was no alternative," said Natalie Davis, a political scientist and pollster at Birmingham-Southern College.
Southern voters identify themselves with the Republican Party on issues across the board, from education and social issues to disdain for President Barack Obama's signature health care law, said Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead.
"The core of the Democratic Party has gotten more liberal, said Sen. Gerald Dial, a Lineville legislator who switched to the Republican Party.
Dial represented his east Alabama district as a Democrat for 20 years before switching to the GOP in 2010. He said the Republican Party better reflected the views of people in his district, which sweeps through east Alabama's farms and textile mills.
Here is the original post:
Why white Democrats are so rare in the South