Especially given the harsh racist rhetoric that's been emanating from President Donald Trump in the past two weeks, it's easy to picture the Democratic Party as the party of diversity. This point is hammered in given the disparity in representation of racial minorities, sexual orientations, and gender in the House, the Democrats have 88 women compared to the Republicans' 13. There is a total of 49 black representatives in the House, but only 1 of them is Republican, and out of 36 Hispanic representatives, only three of them are Republican. Republicans have no representatives of East Asian, South Asian, or Middle Eastern descent (Justin Amash (I-MI) left the party on the 4th of July). No Republican representatives identify as LGBT, while 4 Democrats do. Only two Republican representatives, Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and David Kustoff (R-TN), are Jewish, while 22 Democrats identify as Jewish. Both parties have two representatives of Native American descent, while Democrats have two Muslim women currently serving in Congress. It is easy to put these data into an op ed about the Republicans rapidly becoming the party of White men. But has it always been this way? Prior to Donald Trump's election, Republicans were diversifying at a much slower rate than the Democratic Party, but they had begun to rectify their image as the party of white supremacy.

In 2013, South Carolina, a former bastion of the KKK and Jim Crow laws - had elected an Indian American female governor, Nikki Haley, who proceeded to appoint a black state legislator, Tim Scott, to the vacant South Carolina senate seat. Sen. Scott remained the only African American Senator in Congress until Cory Booker's election later that year and Kamala Harris' election in 2016. In 2016, the Republicans had a primary where four of the top six competitors consisted of a prominent businesswoman, two Hispanic (of Cuban descent) Senators, and a black neurosurgeon (while the Democrats had no people of color in a primary to succeed the first Black president). At the time, Democrats had only one POC Governor (David Ige of Hawaii), while Republicans had Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Nikki Haley, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, and Brian Sandoval of Nevada. That much representation among the Republicans, especially when contrasted with the Democrats', seems like the call of a forgotten era, but was only three years ago. That much changed had happened in a short time as well - almost all of those representatives and executives were elected around the same period (2010-2014). It is strange to imagine the Republicans as the party of Hispanic interests, but these powerful Hispanic and Indian Republican politicians should remind Democrats that they do not have a lock on those voters simply because of one racist President.

I say this not to excuse the Republican Party's recent racist bent (hi Steve King) and the racist apologizers in Congress protecting the President because of their allegiance to their party and fear of backlash amongst their base. Instead, I want to point attention towards the way that the Democratic Party has been taking people of color for granted since the Clinton Administration. Black and Hispanic voters (of Mexican, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent) arguably handed Democrats their most essential wins at a presidential level since the Republican Party once again became a dominant force in the country with President Reagan's administration. There is no excuse for the abject indifference the Clinton Campaign ignored people of color in 2016 - which is why she lost. Sure, the Democratic Party had lost the votes of the white working class in the Midwest, but those votes were also heavily dependent on changing demographics and cultural reaction to those demographics. There's only so much political strategy could have done to win those groups over, and I'm not sure I would've liked it if the Party did. But do you know what could be rectified by strategy? Actually targeting and appealing to POC groups scattered throughout the Midwest and the South. Clinton could have chosen a number of prominent Hispanic and black politicians as her running mate, rather than some random white Senator from Virginia. Clinton could have aggressively made appearances in black communities in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Atlanta rather than just hoping her offhand remark that she carried hot sauce in her purse would encourage them to vote for her. She barely brought up immigration and illegal amnesty at all during the campaign, despite Trump making it a central focus to his. Heck, the Democratic Party could have refused to all but hand Clinton the nomination without a serious primary by refusing to offer endorsements until the primary season started, scheduling proper debates, and tempering internal discussions that Clinton was the presumptive nominee. She had already lost a primary - why should she have been given a second chance in such a way?

Politicians attempting to run for President in 2020 should take note of galvanizing campaigns in 2018. In Georgia, Stacey Abrams - a popular black legislator - made race a central focus to her campaign for governor and nearly won a state that Democrats hadn't touched in decades. Sen. Doug Jones made overtures to black women the number one priority of his Senate race against Roy Moore in Alabama. Hispanic voters are the reason that there is a Democratic Senator from Arizona. Joe Biden seems to think that his connection to the nation's first black president is reason enough for Black voters to support him - lumping them all in a single group without much regard to unique and varied needs within the group. All black and Hispanic voters do not believe in the same political philosophy and many would appreciate a varied approach like the one granted to white voters of all economic classes. As of July 2019, only two candidates are really making diverse offerings to all racial groups of varying socio-economic interests - Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro. Castro's gone the furthest, offering comprehensive plans to support Native American communities long ignored, Mexican immigrants and their children, working class Black men and women, Hispanic Americans with long histories in their states wanting to see more representation and attention, and established, educated POC professionals facing discriminatory workplace environments who also want to see the same kind of economic change as their white counterparts.

Donald Trump and his administration, along with the Republicans are not implementing policies for all Americans. Their blatant racism makes them easy targets for Democratic attack ads and messaging. However, it would be a grave mistake for the Democratic party to forget that only three years ago, it seemed like Republicans had a firm foundation from which to challenge their presumed dominance over Hispanic votes. Trump is certainly not someone who we would like to continue to see in the Oval Office in 2021 and getting over taking POC votes as something for granted is essential to remove the man from Washington. Democrats need to take note from Justice Democrats, Black Lives Matter, and the varying progressive think tanks attempting to redefine policies towards race and make it a centerpiece of their campaigns. They need to aggressively campaign for election reform - ensuring that every American, regardless of socio-economic status is able to easily vote, they need to rectify the grave injustices that have been perpetrated against POC of lower socio-economic classes under the guise of a 'war on drugs' and their subsequent imprisonment and disenfranchisement, and they need to offer comprehensive immigration reform messaging - it is not enough to offer substantial policies - it is necessary to convince the American public why these are necessary. Candidates who follow that narrow playbook and continue to find innovative ways to solve the myriad issues facing communities of color while listening to their concerns will be the most successful in 2020 and the decades beyond. Democrats cannot allow Republicans to continue racist policies with POC support simply because of their indifference. They need to properly understand race and how modern Americans view it, and weaponize it.