Political Sharecropping Exposed. Black Votes Used While White Consultants Get Rich.
Quick Read
Summary
Takeaways
- ❖The political industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with spending across all levels of government.
- ❖There are virtually no major Black-owned political consulting, media buying, or polling companies.
- ❖White Democratic strategists are making millions, buying second homes and yachts, even when working on campaigns for Black candidates.
- ❖Black companies and voters are treated as 'political sharecroppers,' doing the work without receiving equitable economic returns.
- ❖A white consultant once stated, 'Our audience isn't exactly watching BET' when asked about Black ad spending, even in districts with significant Black populations.
- ❖National party committees (like the DCCC) use 'approved vendor lists' that predominantly feature non-Black firms, creating a barrier to entry for Black businesses.
- ❖Campaign consultants make significant money (10-18% commission) from media buys (TV, radio, digital), not from ground game or direct voter engagement.
- ❖Black consultants are often given 'lifestyle jobs' (e.g., $60k-$150k contracts) rather than opportunities to build large, infrastructure-rich companies.
- ❖The Biden-Harris campaign channeled hundreds of millions to newly formed white-owned media buying and digital firms, while established Black firms struggled for access.
- ❖Black media outlets are offered 'crumbs' (e.g., $5,000 for a national ad buy) for their valuable audience, while white media receives substantial ad spending.
- ❖The systemic exclusion persists even among 'progressive' white Democrats, who often fail to recognize or address the lack of diversity in their own networks and spending.
Insights
1Systemic Exclusion from Political Spending
The multi-billion dollar political campaign industry systematically excludes Black-owned businesses from lucrative contracts. Despite billions spent in every election cycle across all levels of government, there are virtually no major Black-owned political companies, whether for campaign management, polling, media buying, or advertising.
Roland Martin states, 'You cannot name me a single major black-owned political company.' He cites examples of white strategists like Kellyanne Conway, David Axelrod, and David Plouffe becoming multi-millionaires, while Black firms are treated as 'political sharecroppers.'
2National Committees Dictate Vendor Selection
National party committees (e.g., DSCC, DCCC) maintain 'approved lists' of vendors, strategists, and communications people. These lists predominantly feature non-Black firms, effectively creating a gatekeeping mechanism that prevents Black-owned businesses from securing major contracts, even for campaigns involving Black candidates.
Rebecca explains that national committees ask candidates, 'Who are your consultants? Who's your media person? Who is your pollster?' If the candidate doesn't mention names on their pre-approved list, they won't receive national funding or endorsements. Roland adds that these 'approved lists' are not Black.
3The 'Lifestyle Job' vs. Company Building Disparity
Black professionals in politics are often offered 'lifestyle jobs'—individual contracts ranging from $60,000 to $150,000—instead of larger contracts that would enable them to build and scale actual companies with infrastructure and employees. This prevents Black-owned firms from growing into multi-million dollar enterprises, unlike their white counterparts.
Roland details, 'They're going to pay you 60, 70, 80,000. You might get a 100. You might get 150. He or she going to make three, four, five million.' He contrasts this with white companies that start and quickly receive $60-100 million in billings.
4Media Buying as the Primary Wealth Generator
The most significant money in political campaigns is made through media buys (TV, radio, digital ad placements), where firms receive a substantial commission (10-18%) of the total ad spend. This incentivizes consultants to push for large media budgets, and the lucrative contracts are overwhelmingly awarded to non-Black firms.
Roland states, 'They make their money on the TV buys. They negotiate deals to say, 'Okay, our firm will receive anywhere from 10 to 18% of the amount of money you spend on television.'' Rebecca elaborates on how firms get a percentage of each ad placement, which can amount to millions.
5Biden-Harris Campaign Spending Disparities
Analysis of the Biden-Harris campaign's spending reveals massive contracts awarded to newly formed white-owned firms, while Black media and companies received disproportionately small amounts. For example, a $5,000 ad buy was offered to Roland Martin's national platform, framed as a significant 'investment level'.
Roland cites a 'real sludge.com' article detailing that Media Buying and Analytics LLC (a front for Canal Partners Media, founded in 2019) oversaw over $280 million in ad spending for the Harris campaign. Gambit Strategies (founded 2021) received $122 million. Roland also shares an email offering his show a $5,000 ad buy from 'Biden for president' for a 30-second video.
Bottom Line
The systemic exclusion of Black-owned businesses from political spending is not limited to conservative parties but is deeply embedded within the Democratic party, including 'progressive' white Democrats.
This challenges the perception that the Democratic party is inherently equitable or supportive of Black economic empowerment, revealing a hypocrisy where political reliance on Black voters does not translate into economic reciprocity.
Black communities must leverage their political power to demand economic accountability from all political parties, especially those they consistently support, by insisting on equitable distribution of campaign funds to Black-owned enterprises.
The 'old school' model of media buying, where consultants charge 10-15% for ad placement, is being applied to new digital platforms (like Meta) where the actual effort and cost for placement are significantly lower.
This inflates campaign costs and siphons funds that could be used for direct voter engagement or more impactful strategies, benefiting consultants over candidates and voters.
Black-owned firms can innovate by offering transparent, cost-effective digital ad placement services, leveraging platform-built features, and educating candidates on fairer pricing models, thereby disrupting the traditional consulting racket.
Opportunities
Establish a Black-owned political consulting consortium.
Form a collective of Black-owned firms specializing in various campaign services (polling, media buying, digital strategy, field operations, PR) to offer comprehensive, competitive services that can rival larger white-owned firms and demand significant contracts. This consortium would have the infrastructure and diverse expertise to handle multi-million dollar campaigns.
Develop a specialized Black media buying and digital ad placement agency.
Create an agency focused on efficient and equitable digital and traditional media buying, specifically targeting Black audiences. This agency would negotiate directly with Black-owned media, ensure fair pricing, and leverage platform analytics to maximize impact, challenging the inflated fees charged by traditional firms for digital placement.
Launch a 'Political Vendor Certification' program for Black businesses.
Create an independent certification or endorsement program for Black-owned political service providers (pollsters, strategists, media, printers, sign makers). This would provide a vetted list for Black candidates and allies, bypassing the exclusionary 'approved lists' of national parties and promoting intra-community economic circulation.
Key Concepts
Political Sharecropping
This model describes how Black voters and professionals are leveraged for their political capital (votes, grassroots work) but are systematically denied equitable economic participation and wealth generation within the political campaign industry. They perform the 'labor' (voting, campaigning) while others (predominantly white consultants and firms) reap the vast financial rewards, mirroring historical sharecropping dynamics.
The Show vs. The Business
This model distinguishes between being the visible, performing element ('the show' – e.g., Black candidates, voters, entertainers) and controlling the underlying financial and structural mechanisms ('the business' – e.g., white-owned consulting firms, media buyers, record labels). It argues that Black communities are consistently positioned as 'the show' across politics, sports, and entertainment, preventing them from accumulating generational wealth and power by owning 'the business' infrastructure.
Lessons
- Black voters and candidates must demand transparency and accountability from political campaigns regarding their spending with Black-owned businesses and media.
- Black candidates should prioritize hiring Black-owned political consulting firms, media buyers, and pollsters, even if it means challenging national party recommendations.
- Black media outlets should refuse 'crumb' offers for advertising and insist on equitable compensation reflective of their audience's value.
- Black professionals in politics should actively network to form their own firms and consortiums, rather than remaining in 'lifestyle jobs' within white-dominated committees.
- Community leaders and Black churches should 'check' white political figures and consultants who seek access to Black voters without reciprocating support for Black businesses or advocating for Black interests in white spaces.
Challenging Political Sharecropping in Campaigns
**Audit Campaign Spending:** Demand detailed breakdowns of campaign expenditures, specifically identifying how much is allocated to Black-owned businesses, media, and consultants.
**Prioritize Black Vendors:** Black candidates must commit to hiring Black-owned firms for all campaign services (polling, media buying, digital, printing, etc.), even if it means pushing back against national party 'approved lists'.
**Negotiate Fair Media Rates:** Black media outlets must collectively refuse 'crumb' offers and establish standardized, competitive rates for their advertising space, reflecting the value of their audience.
**Build Black-Owned Infrastructure:** Black political professionals should collaborate to form multi-service consulting firms and consortiums with robust infrastructure, capable of handling large-scale campaigns.
**Educate and Mobilize:** Inform Black voters about the economic disparities in political spending and empower them to demand that their political support translates into economic opportunities for their community.
Notable Moments
A white consultant telling a Black professional, 'Our audience isn't exactly watching BET,' when asked about Black ad spending in a winnable congressional district with a 20% Black population.
This quote encapsulates the dismissive attitude towards Black media and audiences, highlighting the implicit bias and systemic racism that leads to the exclusion of Black-owned businesses from lucrative ad buys, even when Black voters are crucial to victory.
Roland Martin receiving an email from the 'Biden for president' campaign offering a $5,000 ad buy for a 30-second video over eight days, which he dismisses as a 'crumb'.
This specific anecdote illustrates the stark disparity in how Black media is valued compared to white media, demonstrating the 'crumbs' mentality Roland describes. It highlights the disrespect and undervaluing of Black platforms, despite their reach to critical demographics.
A panelist recounting attending a fundraiser at a 'gorgeous' house of a Democratic insider/strategist, where only 4 out of nearly 100 attendees were Black, and no one acknowledged the lack of diversity.
This moment exposes the insular nature of the political consulting class, even among self-proclaimed 'progressives.' It underscores how racial exclusion is normalized and often goes unaddressed, even in social settings where professional connections are forged and opportunities are shared.
Quotes
"You cannot name me a single major black-owned political company."
"White Democratic strategists are making bank, buying second homes, buying yachts, living the high life even when it's involving black candidates and the black companies are treated very much like the black voters as political sharecroppers."
"A white consultant once told me, 'Our audience isn't exactly watching BET,' when I asked about black ad spending right before we lost a winnable North Carolina congressional district with a 20% black population. Wake up."
"I need black people to learn to stop being the show and also be the business."
"We're literally the prostitutes as a people in politics when we really because black people control the Democratic vote. We could really run stuff if we recognize our power, but we don't recognize our power."
"They don't give them enough such that they can build, you know, a company off of that. It's fine. You want to have that and build it. Um, but they will give that to the white consultant."
"You have no chance in hell of getting this endorsement if you're not hiring these specific people."
"They want the black vote. They want the black eyeballs, but they want it cheap. They don't want to pay a premium, but they'll pay a premium."
Q&A
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