Hillary Clinton will receive the support of 50 black mayors on Tuesday, adding to her lead among minority voters.
Endorsements will come from Steve Benjamin, the president of the African American Mayors Association and the mayor of Columbia, S.C.; Kasim Reed of Atlanta, Ga.; and Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, among others.
“Hillary Clinton is the most experienced and most respected presidential candidate bar none,” former Mayor James Perkins of Selma, Ala., said in a campaign statement prior to the endorsement. “In 2016, America has the chance to elect a candidate in Hillary Clinton who has been putting people over special interests throughout her entire career and I’m proud to throw my support behind her.”
Many of the endorsements come from mayors in crucial primary voting states, such as South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Colorado. Numerous other endorsement come from southern states, such as Alabama and Georgia, where African-Americans make up a considerable portion of the population.
The endorsement comes one week after the Democratic front-runner met with Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson in Washington, D.C. While no details came out of the meeting, the activist reported positive results. As the Black Lives Matter movement has inserted itself in the 2016 primary, all the candidates on the Democratic side, and a few in the GOP, have spoken with representatives of the movement in order to incorporate new policies into their platform. McKesson also recently met with socialist candidate Bernie Sanders, who is gaining on Clinton in the polls.
Despite Sanders’ broad appeal across the Democratic base, his support among African-American voters is low compared to Clinton’s. These 50 mayoral endorsements add to Clinton’s more than 100 congressional endorsements. The Democratic front-runner will roll out a criminal justice reform platform next week after her Benghazi Committee hearing this Thursday.
