ABSTRACT

Race has an enduring influence in American campaigns and elections. With issues of race often heightened in elections, it has been argued that voter discrimination toward African American candidates is certain (Terkildsen 1993; Perry 1996; Reeves 1997). Students of campaigns and elections point to the vast underrepresentation of African Americans among elected officials and the paucity of African American candidates who have been able to win outside of African American majority settings as evidence that white voters continue to vote along racial lines and are not yet willing to embrace African American candidates (e.g., Davidson and Grofman 1994; Lublin 1997).