Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee was given a dose of reality after sharing an image of four Black Republican House members to claim that the GOP "is NOT the party of Jim Crow," only for people to point out there was a glaring issue with his declaration.
Lee posted images of Representatives Wesley Hunt (R-TX), John James (R-MI), Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Burgess Owens (R-UT), apparently intending it as a political flex. He failed to note, however, that all four are departing the House after this year, without any Black Republicans to fill their shoes.
You can see his post below.
Lee needs a lesson in the history of his own party.
Eight years ago, former House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy launched an effort to recruit more Black Republicans to run for Congress, arguing that the GOP needed to diversify in order to remain politically competitive.
By 2022, the initiative had produced some results, helping elect four Black Republicans to the House and bringing the total number of Black Republicans in Congress to five. But now all four Black Republicans currently serving in the House are leaving Congress next year — three to pursue statewide office and one because redistricting effectively pushed him out of his district.
The New York Times recently published an analysis about this very issue:
"The exodus is a reflection of the striking and persistent lack of diversity in the G.O.P. ranks of Congress, something that Mr. McCarthy has acknowledged is still an issue even years after his efforts to address it." ...
"Republican leaders who for a time focused heavily on recruiting and electing more Black candidates appear to have allowed those efforts to flag during the second Trump presidency, as the president has denounced and eliminated diversity programs, fired Black officials while installing an overwhelmingly white senior team and presided over an administration that routinely circulates material echoing white-supremacist references, including a racist meme he posted himself."
"With the president’s gains with Black men dwindling, there are few Black Republicans running for Congress this year, and none regarded as likely to win."
Lee was swiftly called out.
Republican operatives argued the departures do not necessarily signal a retreat from diversity within the party, especially because three of the outgoing lawmakers are pursuing higher office.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson said Johnson is working alongside Donald Trump and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to recruit candidates who “look like their districts and win.”
The spokesperson pointed to the nine-member “MAGA Majority Program,” which includes one woman and three candidates of color among Republicans running in competitive districts.
But only one of those candidates is Black: Kevin Lincoln, the former mayor of Stockton, California, who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Representative Josh Harder two years ago and is now mounting another congressional bid in a different district against Representative Adam Gray.
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