The Washington Post has a fascinating, relatively short podcast exploring larger questions about where Black voters fit within the two-party system through a story about Blexit’s arrival at Howard University’s homecoming weekend. Blexit, a conservative group currently tied to Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, seeks to persuade black voters to leave the Democratic Party, an argument that is not without appeal to many voters of color, who question what the party to which they have been so loyal has actually done for them.

The podcast resonated with me because it reconfirms my argument that for many voters of color, the shortfalls of American democracy today are substantive, not procedural–a point I made in a forthcoming chapter. It also reinforces points made by Lee Drutman and others that our two-party system does not map well onto the diversity of our society, racial or ideological.

Blexit was co-founded by influencer Candace Owens to coax Black people away from the Democratic Party during Trump’s first term. Owens, however, stepped away from the movement since it merged with Turning Point in 2023. The podcast elaborates on a much shorter, earlier article.