Former Democratic nominee for both a U.S. House of Representatives seat and Mississippi secretary of state Shuwaski Young has announced that he has left the party he had long identified with.
Young, who worked in the Department of Homeland Security while Barack Obama was president, stated that he is now a “Christian Conservative” and no longer a Democrat. In an op-ed, Young laid out his rationale for ditching the party. The up-and-coming politician alleged that the party had undergone a seismic change to the point of becoming unrecognizable. An advocate for Christian traditions, masculinity, economic prosperity, and policies that help the middle and lower classes, Young believes the modern-day Democratic platform is contrary to his core values.
“Over time, I have continuously witnessed an intraparty course change: from advocating for fairness and equity in the workplace to unrecognizable liberal policies that challenge traditional gender norms, traditional family values, bedrock beliefs in religion, and the mocking of men for being men, while advocating for economic policies that do not improve the lives of the poor and middle class and do not advance strong unified families,” Young wrote.
Though Young neither announced a switch to the Republican Party nor endorsed a specific candidate going into the upcoming presidential election, he did express a nostalgic feeling for a time in American history when Black fathers and husbands were much more respected in that role than they are today.
Young specifically mentioned that Black communities ahead of the 1960s — ones that typically voted for Republicans — had a strong familial component that allegedly dwindled as a result of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative. Young added that these policies and others espoused by Democratic leaders “ripped Black families apart” by incentivizing Black mothers to kick Black fathers out of the home for the sake of a check from the government.
“In reaching these decisions, I was reminded of Black communities before the late 1960s, before the political party switch — a time when our fathers were held in high regard, and mothers were proud of their children’s father because he had a