Washington - If a “blue wave” does let Democrats seize the House, protect endangered Senate seats and win key governorships, it looks likely that the party will have African-American women to thank.
"Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can't take that for granted," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said last December on Twitter. In truth, the party has taken this loyal constituency for granted in the past — but surely cannot afford to do so now.
Perez's acknowledgment came one day after African-American women did the impossible in deep-red Alabama: They provided the margin that gave Democrat Doug Jones a narrow victory over Republican Roy Moore for a vacant seat in the Senate.