Democratic Senate candidate blasts own party for racial ‘foghorn’

Greg Nash
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) holds up “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink” during a post-caucus press conference. January 14

Rep. Donna Edwards, a Democrat running for a Senate seat in Maryland, blasted her own party and said racism is keeping her campaign from getting full support.

{mosads}“I thought the Republican Party was full of dog whistles, but the Democratic Party has a foghorn,” Edwards said in an interview with Buzzfeed on Saturday.

“As a sitting member of the House, as the ranking Democrat on one of our committees in the House, as the co-chair of our steering and policy committee sitting at the leadership table with Leader Pelosi, as former chair of the bipartisan women’s caucus, a lawyer – how dare they describe me as unqualified?”

Edwards has only received a few endorsements from members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and a coalition of current and former presidents of local NAACP chapters have backed her primary opponent, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

“I’m dumbfounded by Democrats who don’t see the value of race and gender as part of a mix of who we are on public and private lives,” she said. “It’s sad to have Democrats using terms like ‘identity politics’ — those are not our words. Those are the words of the right.”

“When I began this race I decided that I was going to run as who I am: I am a black woman. There is no hiding that, nor would I want to. And one of the reasons I am a Democrat is because I believe in the idea of a big tent and that each one of us has something to contribute.”

According to Real Clear Politics’s average of polls in the state, Van Hollen leads by about 7 points among Democratic primary voters. If elected, Edwards would be one of only two black Democrats in the Senate.

 

Tags Chris Van Hollen Donna Edwards

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Regular the hill posts

Main Area Top ↴
Main Area Bottom ↴

Most Popular

Load more