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On Sunday, the official Twitter account of the Republican Party tried to promote their "record number of Black Republicans running for office and winning at all levels."
Among local and federal offices the GOP bragged they have 40 Black candidates.
They posted:
"We currently have a record number of Black Republicans running for office and winning at all levels."
"Over 40 Black Republicans are running in GOP primaries for both local and federal office."
The GOP then added the hashtag:
"#BlackHistoryMonth"
We currently have a record number of Black Republicans running for office and winning at all levels. \n\nOver 40 Black Republicans are running in GOP primaries for both local and federal office. \n#BlackHistoryMonth— GOP (@GOP) 1644158040
But 40 out of around 7,500 positions (or about .5%) for just state and federal offices around the country is hardly worth bragging about. That percentage drops to .04% if you instead count all 90,000 or so local and municipal elections being held this year.
People were not having it.
GOP wants you to know it has a black friend so it can't be racist.https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1490332956703043590\u00a0\u2026— Rachel Bitecofer \ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udd2d\ud83c\udf4c\ud83e\udd86 (@Rachel Bitecofer \ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udd2d\ud83c\udf4c\ud83e\udd86) 1644166957
There are 90,000 local governments.https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1490332956703043590\u00a0\u2026— Dan Smith (@Dan Smith) 1644201417
There are over 450 federal offices, ~7,000 state legislative seats & thousands more local races up for grabs in 2022.\n\n40 Black Americans running as Republicans out of all those seats is an *indictment*, @GOP, not something to gloat about:pic.twitter.com/gYfRCZT8QZ— Nick Knudsen (@Nick Knudsen) 1644167584
330 million people and the gop wants credit for finding 40 Black people to run as republicans. Beyond parodypic.twitter.com/36uGccYV8i— Brian (@Brian) 1644202607
PATHETIC: The Republican Party thought that having a measly number of 40 Black people among the 7,500 GOP candidates for state and federal office was worth bragging about, calling it \u201ca record number.\u201d \n\nWho agrees that\u2019s NOTHING to brag about?— Jon Cooper (@Jon Cooper) 1644244128
They don't do well with math, or science or.......— Sellen (@Sellen) 1644166003
America has:\n\u2022537 Federal Offices\n\u202218,749 State Offices\n\u2022500,396 Local Offices\n\n40 Black Republicans running in 519,682 offices is .007%. Imagine bragging about this during #BlackHistoryMonth.— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@Qasim Rashid, Esq.) 1644248686
If 40 is a record number, that's just sad. And you thought this was a brag.\n\nAnd let's not forget the makeup of the last administration.\n\nAt least there was Ben Carson.pic.twitter.com/WCJOZzFoW5— Pete \ud83d\udc89\ud83c\udf66\ud83d\udc1d (@Pete \ud83d\udc89\ud83c\udf66\ud83d\udc1d) 1644167781
Some pointed out that GOP-led voter suppression laws were disproportionately targeting Black voters.
"Auditors in Washington State found that the mail ballots of Black voters were being rejected at four times the rate of white voters. Similar trends have been seen in other states."\n\nRejected Mail Ballots Are Showing Racial Disparitieshttps://nyti.ms/3HvGxB2— (Italian) Bamboo cryptologist (@(Italian) Bamboo cryptologist) 1644201014
Around 750 since 2012.\n\n"[T]he 50 counties that gained the most Black and Latinx residents between 2012 and 2018 closed 542 polling sites, compared to just 34 closures in the 50 counties that have gained the fewest black and Latinx residents."https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/02/texas-polling-sites-closures-voting\u00a0\u2026— (Italian) Bamboo cryptologist (@(Italian) Bamboo cryptologist) 1644201165
The @GOP is boasting that 40 Black Republicans running for office is a record. FOURTY - IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY\n\nGet back to us in November with the results of how many Black candidates actually won Republican races for a Party that doesn\u2019t even want us to vote.pic.twitter.com/UAGv3lZV0G— Christopher Webb \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Christopher Webb \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1644169799
pic.twitter.com/3UiNMM0qtx— Papa Hades (@Papa Hades) 1644160983
Others pointed out the "party of Lincoln" didn't seem very well-versed in their own history.
After the Civil War, the Reconstruction South elected a number of Black Republicans.
\u201cIn all, 16 African Americans served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction; more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South.\u201d\n\nhttps://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/black-leaders-during-reconstruction\u00a0\u2026\n\nThey can\u2019t even get their *own* history right.https://twitter.com/gop/status/1490332956703043590\u00a0\u2026— Steve Vladeck (@Steve Vladeck) 1644190628
And that\u2019s only a \u201crecord number\u201d if you completely ignore the early decades of the GOP\u2019s history when the party had a strong commitment to federal enforcement of civil rights and voting \u2014 wait, yeah, yeah, I see it, my bad.https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1490373453534281731\u00a0\u2026— Kevin M. Kruse (@Kevin M. Kruse) 1644168089
"A record number of Black Republicans? Sure Sparky! \n\nREPUBLICAN PLATFORM = VIOLENCE, CHEATING, LYING, CORRUPTION & INSURRECTION #NeverForgetJan6th2021. That's who they are, TERRORISTS!pic.twitter.com/ysqxTF1Jkq— Rosie, not the TV Rosie / All DM's will be ignored (@Rosie, not the TV Rosie / All DM's will be ignored) 1644162859
The GOP's boast may be premature if the party's own voters don't actually support their Black candidates at the ballot box.
The upcoming 2022 primaries will be the first test.