Eric Adams: Democrats can no longer take these voters for granted | CNN

Editor’s Note: Eric Adams is the mayor of New York City and a former New York state senator. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

CNN
 — 

The Democratic Party’s proposal to move its first presidential primary to South Carolina is a major shift in the cadence of national politics — but it is an even larger, tectonic change in how Democrats are messaging their priorities as a party. And the message is clear: The party is prioritizing Black voters.

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee recently voted to approve the plan to overhaul the party’s 2024 presidential nominating calendar. The proposal needs to be approved at a full DNC meeting, set for early next year.

This bold move feels like faith rewarded in a party that many of us from lower-income, Black backgrounds feel has taken our communities for granted. And as the leader of the largest city in the United States, with a Black population of about 2 million people, I am thrilled that we are making this statement.

But this move must be more than symbolic. It must be the beginning of a new push that addresses the concerns of all people of color and working-class people, many of whom feel the party has misrepresented their beliefs. In short, this is a pivotal opportunity to reprioritize our party’s primary policies as well.

Much of the anger from working-class and lower-income Americans over the last decade is a product of these failures. Feeling betrayed, many of them have left the Democratic Party, with support from White working-class voters declining in recent years.

Pouncing on discontent among working-class people color, Republicans have been ruthless in exploiting cultural divisions. The share of Black voters backing Republicans increased by 4 percentage points from the 2018 midterms to the 2022 midterms, according to network exit polling. Latino support for Republicans rose 10 points and Asian voters’ support for Republicans climbed 17 points over that same period of time.

Our 2022 midterms, including Georgia’s recent US Senate runoff, showed that we escaped the worst-case scenario results in many states.

The foundation of our base cracked in key states and congressional districts in New York, California and Florida — and much of that depressed vote was the result of lower turnout of Black and Latino voters, alongside a Republican resurgence with moderate Latinos and Asian voters, from Miami-Dade County to California’s Orange County.

Why did this happen? Let’s start by exploding a few myths about what Black and working-class folks want and need.

First, in my experience, they don’t want “help.” They want what they have earned. They work hard, and, at a minimum, they should not have to worry about crime, schools, child care, health care or housing. This is not some socialist dream. Those are the basics that they paid for by doing the jobs that keep our country running.

That means our platform must include radically practical approaches to complicated challenges. For instance, the federal government must get back in the business of funding affordable housing.

As the cost to build and subsidize new homes skyrockets, federal investment in housing could free millions of Americans from poverty. Similarly, a further expansion of funding for child care would reduce a major household expense while giving children a stronger start in life and freeing up mothers to work and advance in their careers.

Other measures that put extra money in the pockets of working people – such as a more robust earned income tax credit and child care credit – help to stabilize their finances, protecting them from debt and reliance on social services.

These are not handouts. These are prudent investments. And while we as a party have those policies in our platform, they are not our brand because they are not our main message.

That brings me to my second myth buster: Working people don’t have time for a culture war. They’re not on Twitter; they’re working. Let’s not waste time attacking this or that group. We should acknowledge the injustices they’re suffering and then show – don’t tell – working people how we’re going to correct them. Outrage is not a plan.

Finally, we must be authentic.

I have never been to a community meeting in a lower-income or working-class neighborhood where the residents asked for fewer police. The most entrepreneurial, pro-business people I know are immigrants and first-generation Americans. I cringe when I hear people in my party vote against practical public safety and opportunity for economic growth.

The next presidential election will be a big moment for Democrats. After years of fighting for the soul of our country against an existential threat led by former President Donald Trump, we may finally be able to win by being who we are, not who we are not.

There is no more effective – and more credible – way to do that than to make the practical agenda of working people our primary platform as we aim to make historically Black South Carolina our first primary state.