Rev. Jesse Jackson believes that national Democrats in Washington, D.C. are disrespecting a black female Senate candidate in favor of her white female primary opponent.
Jackson wrote a letter to Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, complaining that black Illinois Senate candidate Andrea Zopp is getting the shaft in her primary against Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth. The primary election is in March 2016.
“To the chagrin of many loyal Democrats, we have read in the press that Representative Tammy Duckworth has been endorsed by your committee without a phone call or the proper vetting conversation,” Jackson wrote to Tester Wednesday.
“Ms. Zopp is in the community she represents. She deserves respectful treatment,” Jackson added. “We appeal to you for further conversation.”
Zopp, the former head of the Chicago Urban League and a recent Rahm Emanuel appointee to the Chicago school board, gained some traction in the race by accusing Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of feeding “directly into every racist stereotype that keeps our country from fulfilling its democratic potential.”
“In explaining his ‘ho-remarks,’ Mark Kirk has sadly revealed his problems not only with women but with race,” Zopp said. “Contrary to his statement, that is NOT how we talk on Chicago’s South Side.”
Sen. Kirk apologized for speaking of a “bro with no ho.”