More than 70 black women are running for office in Alabama: report

A record number of black women are reportedly running for Democratic office across the deep-red state of Alabama. 

According to CNN, more than 70 black women have launched campaigns or reelection runs in the state.

“The tide is shifting, and these southern states are showing the rest of the country, again as they always have, that we can lead, and we can change the world,” Rhonda Briggins, an Alabama native and co-founder of VoteRunLead, told CNN. “If you look at history, especially Alabama history, civil rights history, women have always led those charges, and have been the ones working very diligently, behind the scenes, organizing.” 

VoteRunLead is a national nonpartisan organization that trains women who want to run for office.

Briggins said her state’s rejection of the shamed Republican Roy More amid sexual harassment allegations has galvanized more African-Americans to run for office.

“Now that storm is brewing, I think it’s only going to grow,” Briggins continued. “They’ve turned these cliches into a reality, of ‘Black Girl Magic.’ I think people really believe that. I think people really believe they can make a difference, and all you have to do is put yourself out there and do it.” 

{mosads}

Briggins told the outlet that judicial positions provide black women with a unique opportunity to change their communities. 

“If we’re going to do something about Black Lives Matter then it starts with our local judicial system, it starts with our local policing powers,” Briggins says. “People are now connecting the dots to their lives and connecting that to the political power and influence and then pulling all of these pieces together to create real change.”

According to the publication, nearly 18 black women have launched campaigns for circuit, district and probate judge positions in Jefferson County. Moore only won 31 percent of the vote in Jefferson County in comparison to Democrat candidate Doug Jones, in a race where 98 percent of black women voted for the Democrat candidate and made up 17 percent of the electorate.

The report arrives just one month after Georgia Democrats chose former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams to be their nominee for governor, opting for a progressive star over the more traditional centrist, former state Rep. Stacey Evans.