Why are Democratic billionaires backing white candidates over better candidates of color? | Steve Phillips

With white billionaire friends like these, progressives and Democrats are likely to lose political power and also set back the cause of racial justice in this country

The 2022 Democratic primaries have seen a surge of white billionaires, ostensibly Democrats, throwing their weight - and their money - around to try to boost the fortunes of hand-picked, under-qualified white men running against candidates of color. They are doing this despite the candidates of color often being more experienced and better suited to both win and govern in a period of fractious racial conflict where democracy itself is under ferocious attack. With white billionaire friends like these, progressives and Democrats are likely to lose political power and also set back the cause of racial justice in this country.

Not only is it a bad look and a continuation of institutional racism in a party that is nearly half people of color, but, most immediately, it's bad electoral politics. Most of these billionaires and billionaire-backed politicians are weaker candidates than the person of color they are trying to block.

Steve Phillips is the founder of Democracy in Color and author of Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority. He is a Guardian US columnist