Elbert Guillory: Vote Your Interests. Vote Republican.

The pundits, pontificators, and prognosticators would have you believe that this November, Democrats have a lock on the black vote. They couldn’t be more wrong about this prediction.

A recent McClatchy-Marist poll found that nineteen percent of black voters said they plan to support the Republican this November. This is the result of a number of factors at play. There are black voters who plan to hold Democrats accountable for their abysmal failure to advance policy that improves black communities, a Republican Party that is gaining ground with black voters through proactive engagement and an increased recognition that we, black Americans, cannot and should not put all of our eggs in one basket on Election Day.

When I take a look around Louisiana, where Democrat Mary Landrieu ran in 1996 on the promise to be a champion for the black community, many areas that have been under Democrat control look the same as when I grew up as a kid. In some cases, they look even worse.

Little has improved and the statistics are shameful. Our communities are poorer. Unemployment remains in the double the national average while Democrats continue to block policies that would put people back to work. Policies like the Keystone Pipeline that would create thousands of jobs.

Democrats continue to harm us by forcing black and brown children into schools based on their zip code, rather than giving them a choice to attend quality schools. In fact, the Department of Justice sued my home state of Louisiana for a scholarship program that African-American families overwhelmingly supported. The Democrat’s record is one that supports policies that do not help, but rather harm, by keeping our children in struggling schools.

Yet, Mary Landrieu and Democrats like her continue their once-every-six-years appeal to black voters. Well I say, I don’t want Democrats, or any political party, to come by and kiss us once every six years. I want you to kiss us all the time. But that’s exactly what Democrats have done for decades – taken the black vote for granted. No more.

Republicans have in the past ignored black communities, failing to have a presence in our churches, our Historically Black Colleges and
Universities, and in our neighborhoods, but times have changed and they have stepped up to compete for the black vote. The Republican
National Committee, under Chairman Reince Priebus, has made a commitment to show up, build trust, and ask for our vote well in
advance of the month before the election.

Chairman Priebus and the Republican Party has reactivated dormant and chartered new College Republican chapters on the campuses of HBCUs as part of the RNC’s “Growth and Opportunity Project.” The RNC has also hired staffers to do additional engagement in black communities across the country nearly two years before Election Day. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus even addressed key stakeholders in our community like the National Urban League and the National Association of Black Journalists.

Republicans are showing up and doing more. Across the country, Republicans have led on real job creation, expanding educational
opportunities, and offering solutions that we believe would make healthcare more affordable.

If Democrats think they can swing by a couple of churches weeks before an election, with nothing in terms of results or policies to run on,
they will be in for a rude awakening.

This November, let’s hold Mary Landrieu and Senate Democrat candidates
accountable.

Vote for candidates who fight to foster real job creation, address educational disparities, and not take our vote for granted. Vote your
interests. Vote Republican.

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Sen. Elbert Lee Guillory is a member of the Louisiana State Senate. He is an African American and a Republican. Guillory represents District 24, including his native Opelousas, Louisiana, and an assortment of rural precincts.