Florida’s Val Demings can propel Joe Biden to the White House | Opinion
“Enter the Dragon” is the greatest martial-arts film ever made and first film to combine martial-arts action, by Bruce Lee, with the emerging “blaxploitation” genre, which featured Jim Kelly. That’s the genius of its success, the coalition of culture. The same holds true in American politics.
Today, we are at critical juncture in presidential electoral politics. Nominees’ first real decision in the spotlight is the selection of a running mate. As Joe Biden considers a vice president, one should stand out from the rest: Valdez Venita Demings — U.S. Rep, Val Demings, of Florida.
As we navigate the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, this is a pivotal moment in American history, exacerbated by COVID-19. Demings, the former police chief of Orlando, and a former social-worker-turned-police-officer, has become a national voice of responsible law enforcement in the nation’s debate about excessive police force.
Biden needs Demings’ voice in the White House. She can lead police-reform efforts with authority. On Sunday, she wrote an open letter to law enforcement, “My fellow brothers and sisters in blue, what the hell are you doing.” She made a compassionate and direct appeal against the use of excessive force of African-American citizens: “As law-enforcement officers, we took an oath to protect and serve. And those who forgot — or who never understood that oath in the first place — must go. That includes those who would stand by as they witness misconduct by a fellow officer. Everyone wants to live in safer communities and to support law enforcement and the tough job they do every day. But this can’t go on. The senseless deaths of America’s sons and daughters — particularly African-American men — is a stain on our country. Let’s work to remove it.”
Demings has everything that Biden needs in a running mate and can help get him elected in ways that others simply can’t. But it’s important to know how we got to this point.
Every four years potential Democratic presidential candidates make their traditional visits to a restaurant called the Hamburg Inn No. 2 in Iowa City, Iowa, and the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire, to grab some fried French toast and pie shakes. So, why is the success of campaigns determined by their performance in these early states where, demographically, they look nothing like the rest of America or the Democratic Party? And why would you eat fried French toast or pie shakes?
When Biden lost in these states, I didn’t think much of it. South Carolina was the “safety valve” where the “other America” would emerge. African-American voters make up to 60 percent of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate. Biden made his move: He declared he would name an African-American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. It didn’t resonate with most of America, but I saw clearly his political skill resurfacing from his Senate days. He “landslided” South Carolina and Super Tuesday. Biden also reaffirmed his declaration to appoint an African-American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court during the March 15 CNN debate, but audiences understandably seized on his new declaration to choose a woman as his vice president.
Back to Demings. Three states matter in 2020 that Donald Trump won barely in 2016: Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, totaling 55 electoral votes. Trump won Florida by 1.2 percent, where African Americans make up 13 percent of the vote. (With Amendment 4, that increase to 18 percent.) Trump won Michigan by 0.3 percent in a state where 13 percent of the voters are African American, and Pennsylvania by 0.7 percent, where 11 percent of the voters are African American.
African Americans tip the scale in all of these races for Democrats, especially when nine out of 10 vote Democrat every time. This makes Biden’s vice-presidential selection easy. All roads lead to Congresswoman Demings of Central Florida, the swing region of a swing state.
Plus, for Biden, her bonafides as an impeachment manager in Trump’s trial should seal the deal.
Christopher M. Norwood, J.D., is spokesperson for the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, a member of the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee and principal of The Norwood Consulting Group.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 4:35 PM.