Fact Check: Were The First 23 Black Members Of Congress Republicans
A post about the political affiliation of the first Black members of Congress has spread on social media.
The Claim
A widely shared post on social media said that the first 23 Black members of Congress were all Republicans.
Alongside an archival image of early Black members of Congress, it said, in capital letters: “History that is never taught.
“The first 23 Black congressman were all Republicans.”
A post of this image was shared on September 5 and has more than 9,000 likes and more than 4,000 retweets at the time of writing.
CrowGuy61 #AnatomyOfViolence
The Facts
Newsweek contacted Historian of the House of Representatives Matthew Wasniewski to ask about the claim.
He confirmed that the first 23 Black members of Congress had been Republicans,
“The figure of 23 is in fact correct,” he said. “It includes 22 Black Members of Congress during Reconstruction and the late 19th century all from reconstructed southern states, and all Republican.
“After the last of those 22 individuals left the House in 1901 , there was a three-decade gap where no African American served in either chamber because of the rise of Jim Crow and the denial of voting rights.
“In 1928, Oscar De Priest of Illinois, who represented a Chicago-centered district, became the first Black American elected from a northern state. He was a Republican and his rise in Illinois politics reflected the effects of the Great Migration.
“De Priest was the 23rd African American to serve in Congress.”
The Ruling
House Votes To Condemn Trump’s ‘racist Comments’
Hurd has taken vocal stances against Trump in other instances, too. Last year in a New York Times op-ed, Hurd who had been an undercover CIA officer for almost 10 years before being elected to Congress asserted that Trump was being manipulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The president’s failure to defend the United States intelligence community’s unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans,” Hurd wrote. “By playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States to both our friends and foes abroad.”
Tim Scott Only Black Gop Senator Set To Respond To Biden
WASHINGTON Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator, is often happy to dart past Capitol Hill reporters without saying much. This time, he and the spotlight have found each other.
Brought up by a single mother who worked backbreaking hours as a nursing assistant, the 55-year-old Scott has spent a decade in Congress representing South Carolina. Now, the lawmaker who combines a willingness to address racial questions with an advocacy of vintage conservative themes such as opportunity and optimism is giving his partys nationally televised response to President Joe Bidens Wednesday night address to Congress.
Scott also is the lead GOP negotiator as the two parties seek an accord on legislation overhauling police procedures. The issue has long eluded compromise despite national attention fanned by last years killing of George Floyd, a Black man, and this months conviction of a former Minneapolis police officer in his slaying.
You figure out who your audience is, you figure out what you want to say and you try and find a way to say it well, Scott told reporters Tuesday about his speech preparations. And you lean into who you are.
GOP leaders choíce of Scott to answer Biden comes at a tense political moment.
Scott, from North Charleston, South Carolina, nearly dropped out of high school. He tells of a life-changing turnabout after befriending a businessman who became a mentor and stressed the value of hard work.
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Congressional Black Caucus Pac
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC is a political action committee founded as a political arm of the caucus, aiming “to increase the number of Black Members of the US Congress…support Non-Black Candidates who will champion the needs and interests of the Black Community” and increase the “participation of Black Americans in the political process”.Gregory Meeks chairs the PAC. The CBCPAC is known for its moderate-lean. The PAC caused controversy when it backed incumbent Michael Capuano, a white man, over challenger Ayanna Pressley, a black woman who ultimately defeated him. Two years later, it backed Eliot Engel, a white incumbent, over Jamaal Bowman, a black challenger who went on to defeated him.
HuffPost reporters questioned how endorsements were made, noting that the executive board included corporate lobbyists over CBC members. Representative Brenda Lawrence criticized the PAC’s endorsement policies in 2020 and called for it to be reevaluated.Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy nonprofit group, released a letter in 2016 calling on the CBCPAC to cut ties with lobbyists from industries that are “notorious for the mistreatment and exploitation of Black people” including private prisons, pharmaceutical companies, student loan creditors, and big tobacco.
Changes To House Rules
After Democrats took control of the House in the 116th Congress, they voted to change some rules from the previous session of Congress when Republicans were in control. Some of the changes appear below.
- PAYGO: Democrats approved PAYGO, a provision that requires legislation that would increase the deficit to be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.
- Ethics: Democrats made changes to House ethics rules that required all House members to take ethics training, not just new members. The rules also required members to reimburse taxpayers for settlements that that result from a members discrimination of someone based on race, religion, sex, national origin, or disability, among other things. Lawmakers were also prohibited from sitting on corporate boards.
- Climate change committee: Democrats created a new climate change committee to address the issue. The committee was not given subpoena power or the ability to bring bills to the floor.
A full explanation of the rules changes can be viewed here.
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Bipartisan ‘bromance’ Blossoms As 2 Texas Congressmen Make Dc Road Trip
Hurd was also one of just four House Republicans who voted for a resolution to condemn Trump’s racist tweets last month attacking four freshman Democratic women of color. His positions and willingness to speak out against Trump made sense, given the political and demographic makeup of his district. The 23rd District is almost 70% Latino, and Hillary Clinton won it by about 3.5 percentage points in 2016. Last year’s midterm elections left Hurd as one of just three House Republicans to sit in a district carried by Clinton, not Trump.
But Hurd only barely survived in 2018 to win reelection by just 926 votes over Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force veteran who had already announced she was seeking a rematch in 2020. Without Hurd, who was seen by Republicans and Democrats alike as an unusually strong GOP incumbent, the Cook Political Report has moved its rating for this seat from Toss Up to Lean Democratic.
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Bipartisan Bromance Blossoms As 2 Texas Congressmen Make Dc Road Trip
Hurd was also one of just four House Republicans who voted for a resolution to condemn Trumps racist tweets last month attacking four freshman Democratic women of color. His positions and willingness to speak out against Trump made sense, given the political and demographic makeup of his district. The 23rd District is almost 70% Latino, and Hillary Clinton won it by about 3.5 percentage points in 2016. Last years midterm elections left Hurd as one of just three House Republicans to sit in a district carried by Clinton, not Trump.
But Hurd only barely survived in 2018 to win reelection by just 926 votes over Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force veteran who had already announced she was seeking a rematch in 2020. Without Hurd, who was seen by Republicans and Democrats alike as an unusually strong GOP incumbent, the Cook Political Report has moved its rating for this seat from Toss Up to Lean Democratic.
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Black Republicans In The Cbc
The caucus is officially non-partisan; but, in practice, the vast majority of African Americans elected to Congress since the CBC’s founding have been Democrats. Ten African American Republicans have been elected to Congress since the caucus was founded in 1971: Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts , DelegateMelvin H. Evans of the Virgin Islands , Representative Gary Franks of Connecticut , Representative J. C. Watts of Oklahoma , Representative Allen West of Florida , Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina , Representative Will Hurd of Texas , Representative Mia Love of Utah , Representative of Florida , and Representative Burgess Owens of Utah . Of these ten, only Evans, Franks, West, and Love joined the CBC; currently, the caucus includes no Republicans, although Byron Donalds has applied to join the CBC.
Edward Brooke was the only serving African American U.S. senator when the CBC was founded in 1971, but he never joined the group and often clashed with its leaders. In 1979 Melvin H. Evans, a non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands, became the first Republican member in the group’s history. Gary Franks was the first Republican voting congressman to join in 1991, though he was at times excluded from CBC strategy sessions, skipped meetings, and threatened to quit the caucus.
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New Members Of Congress
In the 2018 Senate and House elections, nine new members were elected to the Senate and 93 new members were elected to the House. These new members of Congress defeated incumbents or competed for open seats as a result of appointments to state and executive offices, resignations, and retirements. Here are some facts about the new members of Congress.
- Five incumbent senatorsfour Democrats and one Republicanwere defeated in general elections. Senators who defeated incumbents were Mike Braun , Kevin Cramer , Josh Hawley , Jacky Rosen , and Rick Scott .
- Three senators, all Republican, did not seek re-election in 2018. They were replaced by two Republicans and a Democrat. Sen. Thad Cochran also retired early, leaving his seat vacant. Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected to complete his term.
- Fifty-two members of the U.S. House did not seek re-election in 2018. The 34 outgoing Republicans were replaced by 24 Republicans and 10 Democrats. The 18 outgoing Democrats were replaced by 15 Democrats and three Republicans.
- Four members of the U.S. Housetwo Democrats and two Republicanswere defeated in primary elections in 2018. They were replaced by three Democrats and one Republican.
- Thirty members of the U.S. House, all Republicans, were defeated in the general election by Democrats.
John James Loses To Debbie Stabenow
John James is a former U.S. Air Force pilot turned Michigan businessman who was endorsed by President Donald Trump on July 27.
But the political hill was too steep to climb for James who lost to Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow by 5.4 points with 51.9% of votes going to Stabenow and 46.1% going to James, according to the New York Times.
Polls showed James was a long shot to defeat Stabenow, who has served Michigan in the U.S. Senate since 2000 in a state that Trump narrowly won during his 2016 White House run.
Trumpâs endorsement of James may have inadvertently hurt the West Point grad in a state where the presidentâs approval rating among likely voters was just 37% in September, according to the Detroit News.
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Jineea Butler Loses To Adriano Espaillat
Originally from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Jineea Butler was a star basketball player at Long Island University Brooklyn and moved to Harlem in 1998, according to her biography. Her conservative values didnât win over many people in New Yorkâs 13th District, where retired U.S. lawmaker Charles Rangel served for 46 years. Espaillat has served the 13th District, which includes Manhattanâs Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods, since defeating Rangelâs handpicked successor Keith Wright in 2016. The district hasnât elected a Republican since at least 1971.
An Incoming Class Of History
Several of the newly elected state representatives are making history.;
The Republican Madison Cawthorn, 25, who beat the Democrat Moe Davis to represent North Carolinas 11th Congressional District, will become the youngest member of Congress in modern history.
The Democrat Cori Bush is set to become the first Black congresswoman from Missouri after winning in the states 1st Congressional District.
The Democrats Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres will also be the first openly gay Black men to serve in Congress, after winning in New Yorks 17th and 15th districts respectively.
And nine out of the eleven Republicans who have so far unseated incumbent Democrats are women wins that will drastically expand the representation of women and especially of women of color in the House Republican caucus.
Currently, there are just 13 voting female Republican representatives in the House and 11 female Republican incumbents who ran for reelection in 2020.
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These Two Charts Show The Lack Of Diversity In The House And Senate
- Both chambers of Congress are largely composed of white people.
- But the number of nonwhite lawmakers has gradually increased in the House at a faster rate than in the Senate.
- The 116th Congress overall is the most diverse since 1930, according to a CNBC visualization of data from the Brookings Institution.;
The House has become more diverse at a faster rate than the Senate, a CNBC analysis shows, but both chambers are still predominantly white.;
The number of nonwhite lawmakers has gradually increased in the House at a faster rate than in the Senate.;
Congress overall is the most diverse it’s ever been, according to a CNBC visualization of data from the Brookings Institution.;
In the House and Senate, at least 114 lawmakers are either African American, Asian or Hispanic, meaning that more than 1 in 5 lawmakers in the 116th Congress is a person of color and nearly 8 in 10 are white.
The data also shows there are far more Democratic than Republican people of color.;
Here is a breakdown of the number of people in Congress by race:
- African American: 53 representatives, 3 senators
- Asian American: 12 representatives, 3 senators;
- Hispanic American: 39 representatives, 4 senators
Since 1870, 162 African Americans have served in Congress, according to congressional data from EveryCRSReport.com. Of those, 152 have served in the House while nine have served in the Senate. One has served in both chambers.
But about 79% of Congress is white, according to the Brookings data.
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Liz Matory Loses To Dutch Ruppersberger
Columbia University and Howard University grad Liz Matory is a small-business owner and a writer. Sheâs also a former Democrat who ran her latest campaign as a pro-Trump reformer and a âborn-again Republicanâ saying she wanted to help the populist president âdrain the swamp.â
In 2014, Matory ran to represent Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates as a Democrat, but she came in last place, according to the Baltimore Post-Examiner. A year later she switched parties after serving as a field organizer for failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown, who lost his bid against Republican Larry Hogan, the stateâs current governor.
This time around, Matory couldnât defeat long-term incumbent Dutch Ruppersberger in a district Ruppersberger has served since 2003, according to the Washington Post.
