Black Democrats with Catholic connections shine in 2024 election

Despite a Republican triumph in the 2024 presidential election, African-American and Afro-Latino Democrats have achieved historic victories in congressional races that will help shape a new-look Congress.

New York stalwarts Adriano Espaillat and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both of whom are Catholic, and Catholic-raised Ritchie Torres led off early results with big wins in their reelection campaigns for the House, with each taking more than two-thirds of the vote in their electorate.

Espaillat, one of two Black Catholics currently serving in Congress, called his triumph an “honor” as he celebrated victory on Tuesday afternoon.

“Thank you to the constituents of New York’s 13th congressional district for your support and trust to represent you, once again, in Washington.”

His co-religionist, Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, handily won his first full term this week after taking the 2023 special election to replace David Cicilline. The son of African immigrants, Amo is the first Black person to represent the state in Washington.

“During my first year in office, I’m proud of what we have accomplished to positively impact the lives of my constituents,” he said in a statement. 

“There is work to do to continue to lower costs, deliver economic opportunities for Rhode Island families, and protect our freedoms.”

A number of Black Catholic congressional hopefuls came up short in their campaigns, including two Republicans who have generated some amount of controversy for their contrarian views. 

Royce White, a former NBA player who shifted to right-wing populist politics in recent years, failed in his bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, though garnering more than 40% of the vote.

Following the early calls of his loss, White quickly began promoting conspiracy theories concerning voter fraud and corruption, as well as failures within the Minnesota Republican Party.

“When the swamp controls the mainstream media, donors and count... All we can do is give people the information and an option,” he posted on X late Tuesday night.

“Calling my race at 50%, dumping Hennepin ballots 3 hours later. We will continue to fight.”

Former Louisiana State Sen. Elbert Guillory, an 80-year-old Black Catholic former Democrat who has described the party as hostile to African Americans, ran on the GOP ticket to represent the state’s newly redrawn 6th congressional district, which shifted from a White Republican majority to predominantly Black.

Guillory is projected to be soundly defeated by Democrat Cleo Fields, though the race has not been called by the Associated Press as of early Wednesday morning.

Republicans more broadly achieved a wave of major victories in the House and Senate, the latter resulting in a slim majority that will likely grow as results continue to trickle in throughout the week. The makeup of the House is far less certain, with the GOP leading 198-180 while more than 50 races are yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, Black candidates in the Senate were ascendant, with two such women winning races in the chamber for the first time ever. The Democrats’ Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland defeated former Gov. Larry Hogan, while the Catholic-educated Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware won against Republican Eric Hansen to succeed the retiring Sen. Tom Carper.

Their victories will bring the total number of sitting Black U.S. senators to five—the highest total in the nation’s history.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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