REFLECTIVE DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGN
Tracking the Demographics of Political Power
The Reflective Democracy Campaign’s 2020 research analyzed the demographics of our nation’s 3,000 elected county sheriffs, and looked at the demographic shift of our primary candidates and elected leaders in America’s largest 100 cities.
Confronting the Demographics of Power: America’s Sheriffs
In the context of COVID-19 and increased calls for accountability in the criminal justice system, the Reflective Democracy Campaign crafted a demographic profile of American sheriffs, who manage county jails and a wide range of law enforcement activities, yet operate with less oversight than local police chiefs. Of our nation’s 3,000 county sheriffs, we found that 90% are white men.
Who Ran On November 3rd? US Senate, House, and State Legislature Candidates by Race and Gender
Political power is shifting away from white men. At a pace that dramatically accelerated since 2016, we found that women and people of color are surmounting structural barriers to win primary elections for Congress and state legislatures across the country. Contrary to conventional wisdom about “electability,” women and people of color win at the same rate as white men.
Confronting the Demographics of Power: America’s Cities
To find out if our cities are governed by officials who reflect the people they serve, we studied the race and gender of elected leaders in America’s 100 largest cities and discovered an unprecedented groundswell in reflective democracy. Since 2016, people of color increased their share of elected offices in 58 of our 100 largest cities, and women of color increased their share by 46%
The Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, one of the Campaign’s 2020 grantees, plans to expand its civic leadership training program.
2020 Reflective Democracy Grantees
Our Community Power Building model for grassroots leadership positions grassroots groups as pathways to political power, replacing major donors and party officials as the power brokers who decide who’s on our ballots. In 2020, we granted $450,000 to Michigan United, TakeAction Minnesota, and Texas Organizing Project Education Fund. We also provided $50,000 in seed funding to the Defender Impact Initiative, which advocates for structural change in the criminal justice system.