For decades, the dominant assumption has been that people of color in the United States would find their natural political home within the Democratic Party, with its commitment to racial liberalism. The nation’s growing racial and ethnic diversity seemed to ensure the left’s electoral future.
My colleague Joseph Lowndes and I have been [studying](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517903596/producers-parasites-patriots/) the movement of nonwhite voters to the right for 15 years. When we began this work, people like Mr. Gibson — who told us they hated the establishment, who felt let down or left behind by the politics of the Democratic Party — were often disdained by liberals as dupes of the right voting against their own interests, votes they would regret once they saw their conservative beliefs in action.
The rightward drift of minority voters is not a story of just one election. It is a phenomenon years in the making, one that is reshaping the American political landscape. And to understand this movement, you must understand the transformations in the places they are happening.
[insert heavily-formatted quotes from Milwaukee Black voters]
LuisRobertDylan on
>Luis Cabrera, 47, is a pastor: “Down here in South Texas, I got a rude awakening when I started pastoring. I started noticing that a lot of the Christians down here are Democrats.
>I’ve had to do a lot of serious phone calls with pastors, telling them, listen, there’s an immigration reform being done, nothing’s going to change right now. Like, if you have families in your communities, in your churches that came here in the last four years illegally, they’re running a big risk if they get caught.
>But we have laws in this country, and you can’t come to the country breaking the law. There are pastors that are illegals in this county. They are undocumented pastors of churches, and I’ve told them straight out, **‘Pastor, how can you break the law and preach the Gospel?’ It doesn’t make sense.”**
What is American Christianity even about
Greedy_Reflection_75 on
It turns out stupid comes in every color.
Sufficient_Key_5062 on
Why would we expect the Indian, Chinese, or Mexican immigrant story to be different from the Irish or Italian one?
Euphoric-Purple on
1. By treating “non-white voters” as a monolith rather than recognizing that everyone has difference needs and preferences.
dareka_san on
The real answer he had rizz
Jimmy_McNulty2025 on
I’d say some of the reasons we lost those voters, but bringing up those reasons is a bannable offense in this sub.
Icy-Amphibian77 on
Sounds like people who are falling behind in the current status quo are choosing radical change over small tweaks to the system
I think Dems can win these people back with a bold vision for the country
10 Comments
This shit will not load right on my phone. Fuckin New Dork Times and their wannabe fuckin programmers.
Anyone here able to post the text?
I found this op-ed better and more informative than the usual “median voters speak up” piece.
When I met Joey Gibson in the spring of 2018, I was sure he was an oddity. He was a Japanese American leader of a right-wing group in the Pacific Northwest that rallied for Donald Trump and [menaced opponents on the left.](https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/evergreen-state-protest-patriot-group-dwarfed-angry-response/) But Mr. Gibson also [disavowed white supremacy](https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/seattle-patriot-prayer-rally-takes-twist-leader-gibson-denounces-supremacists/) and spoke candidly about harms against the Black community, building a movement that was at once [multiracial and conservative. ](https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2018/02/patriot-prayer-joey-gibson-white-supremacists-rally/)
For decades, the dominant assumption has been that people of color in the United States would find their natural political home within the Democratic Party, with its commitment to racial liberalism. The nation’s growing racial and ethnic diversity seemed to ensure the left’s electoral future.
My colleague Joseph Lowndes and I have been [studying](https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517903596/producers-parasites-patriots/) the movement of nonwhite voters to the right for 15 years. When we began this work, people like Mr. Gibson — who told us they hated the establishment, who felt let down or left behind by the politics of the Democratic Party — were often disdained by liberals as dupes of the right voting against their own interests, votes they would regret once they saw their conservative beliefs in action.
But seven years later, Mr. Gibson seems to be much less of an anomaly. Mr. Trump nearly [doubled](https://apnews.com/article/election-harris-trump-women-latinos-black-voters-0f3fbda3362f3dcfe41aa6b858f22d12) his support among Black voters from 2020 to 2024, [won](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/behind-trumps-2024-victory-a-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-voter-coalition/) some 40 percent of the Asian American vote, and took almost half of the Latino vote. Many of those I have spoken with recently — students, lawyers, mechanics, pastors and others — sounded strikingly similar to Mr. Gibson. Angry at a system they contend is indifferent to their lives, they express ideas that were once seen only on the far-right fringe.
The rightward drift of minority voters is not a story of just one election. It is a phenomenon years in the making, one that is reshaping the American political landscape. And to understand this movement, you must understand the transformations in the places they are happening.
[insert heavily-formatted quotes from Milwaukee Black voters]
>Luis Cabrera, 47, is a pastor: “Down here in South Texas, I got a rude awakening when I started pastoring. I started noticing that a lot of the Christians down here are Democrats.
>I’ve had to do a lot of serious phone calls with pastors, telling them, listen, there’s an immigration reform being done, nothing’s going to change right now. Like, if you have families in your communities, in your churches that came here in the last four years illegally, they’re running a big risk if they get caught.
>But we have laws in this country, and you can’t come to the country breaking the law. There are pastors that are illegals in this county. They are undocumented pastors of churches, and I’ve told them straight out, **‘Pastor, how can you break the law and preach the Gospel?’ It doesn’t make sense.”**
What is American Christianity even about
It turns out stupid comes in every color.
Why would we expect the Indian, Chinese, or Mexican immigrant story to be different from the Irish or Italian one?
1. By treating “non-white voters” as a monolith rather than recognizing that everyone has difference needs and preferences.
The real answer he had rizz
I’d say some of the reasons we lost those voters, but bringing up those reasons is a bannable offense in this sub.
Sounds like people who are falling behind in the current status quo are choosing radical change over small tweaks to the system
I think Dems can win these people back with a bold vision for the country