DNC chair: Black women are the ‘backbone’ of the Democratic Party

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called black women the “backbone” of the Democratic Party on Wednesday, after black voters drove an upset Senate win in Alabama.

“Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because #BlackWomen led us to victory,” he tweeted Wednesday morning.

“Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted. Period.”

Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because #BlackWomen led us to victory. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted. Period.

— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) December 13, 2017

{mosads}His comments come after Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore on Tuesday in the Alabama special Senate election.

Jones is the first member of his party to win a Senate seat in the state since 1992.

Exit polls in Tuesday’s election showed that an overwhelming number of African-American women and men supported Jones.

The Washington Post’s exit poll showed 98 percent of black women supported Jones. Black women made up 17 percent of overall voters.

The exit poll also found 93 percent of black men voted for Jones.

African-American voters in general supported the Democratic candidate, with 96 percent saying they voted for Jones. That number is slightly higher than the 95 percent who supported former President Obama in his reelection campaign in the state in 2012.

In the Virginia election last month, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) won the Virginia governor’s race in a blowout.

Ahead of that race, Democrats aimed to mobilize black voters, hoping to boost turnout with a core constituency that had repeatedly helped turn the state blue in the past.