When it comes to the presidential race the big names who get mentioned at the top of nightly news broadcasts have a tendency to grab all the spot lights. Just about anyone in America can name at least a small handful of current presidential hopefuls.
But just because Trump, Clinton, Walker, Carson et. al. command the attention doesn’t mean they’re the only horses in the race. There are in fact dozens of declared candidates from fifteen political parties (Republican, Democrat, American Freedom, Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Objectivist, Party of Socialism and Liberation, Peace & Freedom, Prohibition, Reform, Socialist USA, Socialist Equality, Socialist Workers, Veterans) plus independent and other write-in candidates.
The who’s who; who has successfully filed paperwork; and who’s (at least somewhat) relevant count is kept by multiple organizations and websites. The Politics and Elections Portal (2016.presidential-candidates.org) being widely recognized as a benchmark. This site has published pages of declared presidential candidates for both of the major parties in our nation and is useful as a non-partisan, fact-finding information source.
Using this page, let’s take a look at the current field, shall we?
Politics and Elections Portal has the Democrat Party currently with a total of nineteen officially declared candidates for the office of President of the United States. Of those, sixteen are white males over 45 years of age. If we include Vice President Joe Biden, who is not an officially declared candidate yet but is seeming more likely with each passing hour, that would make seventeen.
Also in the field: Two black-Americans (ages 67 and 72); and One female (age 67). That’s it!!
16 of 19 or 17 of 20 if we include Biden. 85% of the currently declared candidates on the Democrat side of the aisle are white males over 45. How’s that for diversity and inclusion? Now let’s examine the Republican side of the aisle, shall we?
Again citing Politics and Elections Portal, the Republican Party has a total of thirty-eight officially declared candidates for the office of President of the United States. Of those, twenty-nine are white males over 45 years of age. That’s just 64%. So who are the rest of these people? Let’s take a look.
The Republican field includes:
- Not one but two women (Shawna Sterling and Carly Fiornia)
- Not one but two black-Americans (George Bailey and Dr. Ben Carson)
- Five who are under 45 years of age (Brian Russell – 36, Esteban Miguel Oliverez – 34, Bartholomew Lower – 39, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal – 44, Marco Rubio – 44, Ted Cruz – 44)
- Three Hispanics (Marco Rubio, Esteban Oliverez, Ted Cruz)
- One Indian (Bobby Jindal)
In all just 64% of the current Republican field wears the ‘white male over-45’ label. The rest fit into some form of hyphenated-American category.
For all their bloviating about Republicans being the party of rich old white guys—and all the boasting about inclusiveness and diversity—just take a look.
Who’s got it, who doesn’t?
Derrick Wilburn is the Founder and Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives and American Conservatives of Color.
He is a sought after speaker/presenter, and is also a renown author and columnist, contributing columns and editorials to the Colorado Springs Gazette and Colorado Common Sense News. He can also be read nationally on American Thinker, Allen B. West and the Tea Party News Network.
His online videos may be viewed on the ACofC YouTube channel and he frequently delivers the Tea Party National Weekly Address.
