Sister Loretta
 | |
| Era | The 2000s |
|---|---|
| Age | 40-49 |
| Home | Newark, NJ |
| Demographic | Black, registered nurse, AME church |
| Lean | Strong Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Predecessor | North Philly Arlene |
| Successor | Gospel Gloria |
Loretta is a Black charge nurse in her forties at a city hospital in Newark and a leading member of her AME congregation. She votes Democratic in every election, but her personal morals come from the pulpit, and the two do not always match.
Who they stand for
Loretta stands for Black church women, among the most reliably Democratic voters in the country. They gave Kerry nearly nine in ten of their votes in 2004 and gave Obama an even higher share in 2008. This bloc lived in northern cities such as Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and across the Deep South. Their politics were shaped by church and neighbourhood, and the church was often socially conservative. The same congregations that turned out for Democrats also supported state amendments banning gay marriage in 2004, and California's Proposition 8 in 2008. This decade also brought Hurricane Katrina, during which nurses at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans stayed with patients through the flood, while city emergency rooms nationally saw more uninsured patients. In Newark, the church vote broke the political machine, electing Cory Booker mayor in 2006 after Sharpe James chose not to run again.
Loretta is part of a lineage representing Black church women across decades. North Philly Arlene, earlier, wanted a stronger police presence in her neighbourhood. Loretta has nursed young Black men shot by police, and no longer wants that presence. Gospel Gloria, in the modern era, hears calls to defund the police and rejects them.
Playing to them
A Democratic president needs to maintain Loretta's support rather than win it fresh, because a Republican president is very unlikely to reach her, and trying wastes his time. What maintains her support, roughly in order, is expanded health coverage for the uninsured, keeping Medicaid and Social Security intact, raising the minimum wage, reducing guns on the street, and bringing military reservists home. If her own party legislates on abortion or marriage in ways she disagrees with, she does not change her vote, but a Democratic president who advances such legislation loses some of her respect while keeping her ballot. Trying to win her over by softening on these issues gains nothing. What she does not forgive is neglect of the kind the government showed New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. A slow or absent response to a disaster in a Black city costs a president of either party her trust for the rest of his term.
Winning Loretta's support through health coverage, higher wages and gun control loses the support of Startup Seth, Abilene Ray and Country Club Whit, because of the spending, and loses Flathead Wade and Chattanooga Travis, because of the guns.
Where they live
The five states where Sister Loretta makes up the largest share of the electorate in the 2000s:
- Washington DC
- Mississippi
- Maryland
- Louisiana
- Georgia
Lineage
North Philly Arlene → Sister Loretta → Gospel Gloria
The Black church woman: socially conservative and a Democrat without exception, and she sees no conflict between the two, in all three decades. The one thing that changes is her view of the police. Arlene wants more of them on her street. Loretta, a nurse, pities the young men they shoot. Gloria hears younger Democrats say defund the police and disagrees. Her economic issues age with her, from Medicaid and schools to Social Security and Medicare.