Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean won the non-binding D.C. primary election, but
finished third in this week’s Iowa caucuses. Still, Dean has raised the
most funds and remains a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.
(AP photo)
Voters in precincts with large concentrations of gay people helped boost
Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s margin of victory on Jan. 13
in the D.C. primary, which Dean won by a much closer vote count than expected,
according to data released by the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics.
With Dean’s third-place setback in this week’s Iowa presidential caucuses,
Dean’s strong showing last week in D.C.’s gay neighborhoods suggests that gay
voters could play an important role in his effort to jump-start his campaign
in New Hampshire and other states.
Dean, the former governor of Vermont, defeated Rev. Al Sharpton of New York
City, his closest rival in the non-binding D.C. primary, by a margin of 43
percent to 34 percent. Most political observers said Sharpton did far better
against Dean among African-American voters in the D.C. primary than had been
expected. Former Senator Carol Mosely Braun of Illinois received 12 percent
of the vote and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio received 8 percent. Mosely Braun
has since withdrawn her candidacy. The other mainline Democratic contenders — including
Iowa winner John Kerry — did not participate in the D.C. primary.
Precinct results released by the District’s election board show that the Dean-Sharpton
vote split largely along racial lines, with Dean winning in nearly all majority-white
precincts and Sharpton winning in nearly all majority-black precincts.
Although African Americans make up about 60 percent of the city’s population,
whites turned out in greater numbers in the Jan. 13 primary, enabling Dean
to beat Sharpton by the nine-point margin.
Election board results show that Dean beat Sharpton by lopsided margins in
nine of the 10 precincts believed to have high concentrations of gay voters.
Nine of the gay-oriented precincts have majority white populations.
Precinct 16, which includes Logan Circle, is majority white but is believed
to have a sizable African American gay presence. Dean won that precinct with
259 votes to Sharpton’s 53 votes. Precinct 112, in Anacostia, has a nearly
all African-American population that also includes a sizable black gay population.
Sharpton won precinct 112 with 129 votes compared to Dean’s 51 votes.
Precinct 127 in Southwest D.C. has a population divided almost equally between
whites and African Americans, and is believed to have a sizable population
of both African-American and white gays. Dean won Precinct 127, 271 to 179.
According to election board data, Dean defeated Sharpton in other precincts
believed to have a sizable gay presence, including Dupont Circle and Adams
Morgan.
Gay Democratic activist Brad Lewis, a member of the D.C. Democratic State
Committee, has said black gays tend to be dispersed throughout the city, making
it difficult to determine if their voting patterns are similar to those of
white gays. Gay activists have said that, although white gays also live in
neighborhoods throughout the city, many reside in larger concentrations in
such neighborhoods as Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Capitol Hill.
Dean won Wards 1, 2, 3 and 6. Sharpton won Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8.
Rev. Al Sharpton found support from
area ministers, despite his strong support for gay rights initiatives,
including gay marriage. (AP photo)
Veteran gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell is among a number of prominent
black gays in the District who are supporting Dean. Pannell, former chair of
the Ward 8 Democratic Committee, noted that Sharpton made frequent campaign
stops in D.C. while Dean’s schedule in Iowa and New Hampshire kept him away
from the District during most of the campaigning for the Jan. 13 primary.
Sharpton made a number of appearances at the city’s African-American churches,
lining up support from the city’s influential black Baptist ministers despite
his strong support for gay civil rights and same-sex marriage. In past years,
some of the District’s black Baptist ministers have led efforts to oppose gay
civil rights legislation.
Dean, who signed the nation’s first gay civil unions law in his role as Vermont
governor, has been the target of sharp attacks by conservative Christian groups.
Sharpton’s outspoken support for gay rights suggests that the District’s black
ministers who backed him in the D.C. primary did not consider Sharpton’s gay
rights positions to be enough of a factor to deter them from supporting him.
An “entrance” poll of participants in the Iowa caucuses conducted by a pool
of news media outlets, including the Washington Post, examined demographic
characteristics of voters but did not include the voters’ sexual orientation.
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