The South in Congress

Senator John Breaux can thank U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for providing one of the easiest votes he has ever cast in his political career.

Last fall, the Louisiana Democrat listened for seven hours as Anita Hill described the sexual harassment Thomas dished out while head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Breaux heard Hill describe how Thomas talked to her about bestiality, large penises, and big breasts. And he heard Thomas protest the hearings, calling them a “high-tech lynching for an uppity black who in any way deigns to think for himself.”

In the end, Breaux’s vote on the Thomas confirmation turned not on the issue of sexual harassment or on Thomas’ character—but rather on the demographics of his home state.

To win statewide office in Louisiana, a candidate needs the support of three groups: African-Americans, north Louisiana white Protestants, and south Louisiana Cajuns. Breaux, a Cajun who peppers his political speeches with references to crawfish and boudin, will have no problem getting the bayou vote during his reelection bid this fall.

But Clarence Thomas handed the senator a chance to please the other two sets of voters — groups generally at odds with each other on national issues. By voting to confirm Thomas, Breaux signaled his support for a staunch conservative who worked for the Reagan and Bush administrations for eight years — a move that pleased Reagan Democrats in rural north Louisiana. At the same time, Breaux solidified his support among African-American voters, many of whom stood behind the black nominee.

“It’s important to know that in Louisiana, where we have about 27 percent black population, that the majority, and I think a substantial majority, were in favor of Judge Thomas,” Breaux told CBS Morning News shortly after the vote. “That’s a large chunk of voters as well as a majority of the white voters, so it was not that difficult a decision for me.

Six other Southern Democrats made the same calculation and decided to break away from their party’s line. Along with Breaux, those Democrats — Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, Wyche Fowler Jr. of Georgia, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, Sam Nunn of Georgia, and Charles Robb of Virginia — put Thomas over the top.

Without the Southern swing vote, Clarence Thomas would have managed only a 37-37 tie in the Senate. Although 11 Southern Democrats opposed the Thomas confirmation, they were outnumbered by the seven Southern Democrats and eight Southern Republicans who supported President Bush’s nominee.

Those Southern senators are precisely why Clarence Thomas is sitting on the Supreme Court today.

 

The Swing Vote

The Thomas confirmation was not the only vote where Southern Democrats sided with Republicans. According to a new analysis by Southern Exposure and its publisher, the Institute for Southern Studies, Southern Democrats often hold the balance of power on key votes, especially in the House. The 169 House Republicans tend to offset the 180 Northern and Western Democrats, giving the 85 Southern Democrats the swing vote on controversial issues.

Southern Democrats shaped the outcome of all but two of the 20 key votes examined by the Institute, from banking reform to the B-2 bomber. While they vote with Democrats outside the region on civil rights reforms and partisan plans for economic relief, they tend to side with Republicans on the death penalty, defense cuts, and environmental laws — particularly those that challenge big oil.

Consider a Senate vote on a measure requiring the United States government to cancel off-shore oil and gas leases that threaten serious harm to the environment (Senate Vote 16). The anti-big-oil amendment to the national energy bill was sponsored by Democrat Bob Graham of Florida — but most of his fellow Southerners abandoned him when it came time to vote.

Northern Democrats (all those outside the South) stood up to the oil industry, supporting the amendment by a 30-7 vote. But Southern Democrats voted 10-8 to kill the pro-environment measure joining Republicans within and outside the region to defeat the amendment by four votes. Indeed, if Northern Democrats really controlled Congress, as is sometimes alleged, most of the key votes that failed would have passed. In the House, Democrats outside the South voted by 2-1 margins to stop discriminatory lending by banks, slice billions from the Pentagon, and make the oil industry create a petroleum reserve instead of sending American troops to Iraq. But in each case, Southern Democrats went the other way, often voting with Republicans by 3-1 margins to kill progressive measures.

While Southern Democrats in Congress generally split their votes, Republicans from the region show remarkable harmony. The eight GOP Senators voted exactly alike on 15 of the 20 key votes analyzed, supporting a conservative social and economic agenda. In the House, the 42 Southern Republicans also voted with little or no dissent on half of the 20 ballots. The biggest defections came on votes involving protectionism, abortion, environmental protection, benefits for the jobless, and gun control — all issues posing problems for the GOP nationally.

Overall, the worst delegations are elected from Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where racial politics and hostility toward the federal government keep white voters returning staunch conservatives of both parties to Congress. West Virginia — with its strong union heritage and current economic collapse — fields the best delegation by far, supporting politicians who appreciate the positive role an activist government can play.

 

Not-So-Solid-South

Although the Southern delegation maintains its ability to shape the outcome of many issues, the examination of key votes reveals that the balance of power has shifted since the Institute conducted a similar analysis in 1984 (see “The South in Congress,” SE Vol. XII, No. 1). Although the conservative coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats remains in force, the issue of how the South votes in Congress today is far more complex.

Through the mid-1980s, Republicans could count on Southern Democrats to deliver a bloc of conservative votes on most issues, from taxes to defense. The coalition stalled civil-rights legislation in the 1960s and helped President Reagan deliver his tax package for the wealthy in the early ’80s. According to Congressional Quarterly, the conservatives peaked in 1971, when their coalition held together in 30 percent of all congressional votes.

Now their solidarity is down to 11 percent — and most of those votes are concentrated in the areas of defense, nuclear power, and environment. More and more, Southern Democrats vote with the party on issues involving the rights of minorities, women, and workers.

“Democratic members of Congress from the South are voting much more like their Northern counterparts than they used to,” says Hastings Wyman, editor of the Southern Political Report. “The Boll Weevils seem to be smaller and less crucial.”

Southern Democrats have moved to the center over the past decade for a variety of reasons. Older conservatives are retiring and losing their seats, often to be replaced by younger and more liberal candidates. The Voting Rights Act has increased minority voter turnout, putting pressure on white lawmakers to represent all their constituents. Republicans have gained strength in the South, pulling arch conservatives away from the Democrats. The national Democratic leadership has tightened party discipline, forcing dissident Democrats to vote the party line more often.

Even when Southern Democrats want to play to white voters back home, they face an increasingly heterogeneous constituency. A single congressional district in the region can encompass fourth-generation farmers, home-grown environmental activists, and Northern transplants working for high-tech corporations.

When Southern Democrats do cast a conservative vote today, notes Hastings Wyman, “it’s often one they know won’t count for much. The issue is decided, and they can throw one to help their voting record with their conservative constituents.”

 

On the Defensive

The area where Southern Democrats continue to create the strongest rightward pull is defense. In the past two sessions, Northern Democrats have voted to slice billions from Star Wars, the Stealth bomber, and other Pentagon programs. But in each case, enough Southern Democrats joined Republicans to kill the progressive measures.

“It would come as no surprise to folks, but Southern legislators tend to be much more hawkish: voting for higher defense spending, willing to let the Pentagon and defense contractors get away with more profit making,” says Burt Glass, legislative coordinator for Sane/Freeze, a national organization that supports deep military cuts. According to Glass, Southern Democrats tend to say: “That’s okay if McDonnell Douglass gets away with a few more millions, because it’s the military.” That doesn’t mean all Southern legislators are blindly pro-military. Last fall, Democratic Senator Jim Sasser of Tennessee tried to cut funds for the B-2 Stealth bomber, Star Wars, and the rail-mobile MX missile. His proposal was seconded by fellow Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia, usually considered a hawk. Byrd told his fellow senators that with the nation’s domestic needs growing, “I can no longer support these big-ticket items, which seem to have a life of their own.”

On the proposal to halt production of the B-2 (Senate Vote 19), most Southern Democrats sided with Sasser in a rare show of Southern opposition to military spending. But they supported the Tennessee senator in weaker numbers than the Northern Democrats did. Democrats in Texas, Georgia, and Virginia — three states with big defense contracts — abandoned Sasser. Those Democrats alone tipped the vote in support of the B2. Without the South, the Stealth bomber would be fading away.

In another example of their pro-military stance, Southern Democrats in the House voted 53-32 to launch Operation Desert Storm (House Vote 17). Their support combined with the near unanimous GOP vote to overcome the 33-147 opposition of Northern Democrats and send American troops to the Middle East.

Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama is a prime example of Democratic loyalty to the Pentagon. A self-described “country judge” with a touch of Tennessee Valley economic populism, Heflin is all over the map on domestic issues. He opposes abortion and supports stiffened penalties for flag-burners; at the same time he voted to extend benefits to unemployed workers and to forbid employers from replacing certain strikers.

But on military issues, Heflin shows a fierce loyalty to the commander-in-chief. On each of the key votes on defense related issues, Heflin voted with the conservative coalition. He supported Desert Storm, opposed cuts in Star Wars research, supported continued production of the Stealth bomber, and opposed the transfer of $3.1 billion in unspent Pentagon funds to domestic needs.

“If I’m sort of undecided, I’ll vote with the Democrats,” the Alabama senator told a reporter. But on defense issues, “I went with every Republican position.”

Southerners have magnified their power over the Pentagon by assuming leadership roles on military issues. Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, while Republican John Warner of Virginia serves as the ranking Republican member. “It’s a Southern front there,” says Burt Glass of Sane/Freeze. On the House side, Dante Fascell of Florida heads the Foreign Affairs Committee, while Tom Bevill of Alabama chairs the subcommittee that discusses funding for nuclear weapons.

But Glass cautions that thinking solely in terms of North and South oversimplifies the politics of military policy-making. “More than regionalism, old-fashioned pork-barrel politics has come into play,” he says. One example: Georgia and California, with their B-2 contracts, teamed up to preserve bomber funding.

As more and more defense contractors move South, Southern legislators fight even harder for military spending. Northrop recently built a new plant in Senator Nunn’s hometown joining other contractors drawn to the region’s friendly political terrain and anti-union climate.

“You see great liberal pro-peace legislators decide they’re suddenly for a particular weapons system,” says Glass. “That’s emphasized in the South, where contractors are migrating.”

 

Domestic Progress

In addition to its pro-military strength, the conservative coalition hangs together on some domestic issues — particularly ones involving law and order.

Last year, both the House and Senate crushed measures that would have allowed black defendants to use statistical evidence to show that the death penalty is racially discriminatory (Senate and House Vote 10). Although Northern Democrats gave overwhelming support to the bill, Southern Democrats cast a strong vote for capital punishment. Southerners voted to kill the amendment by a margin of 13-4 in the Senate and 45-37 in the House — giving Republicans enough votes to kill the proposal.

Southern Democrats again sided with the Republicans during a House debate on the highway and mass transit bill last October (House Vote 13). District of Columbia delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced an amendment making female-owned businesses eligible for at least 5 percent of all road contracts and minority-owned firms eligible for at least 10 percent. Currently, women and minorities share 10 percent of the contracts.

Northern Democrats embraced the idea by a 103-77 vote. But Southern Democrats rejected it by a 57-27 margin, once again providing Republicans with the votes needed to defeat a progressive measure.

On the whole, however, Southern lawmakers tend to vote more progressively on domestic issues involving civil rights. “The old civil rights battles have pretty much gone by the board in terms of polarizing the South,” says Hastings Wyman of the Southern Political Report. Southern Democrats voted with their Northern counterparts for a measure to make voter registration easier, and for a new Civil Rights Act to override a series of anti-black decisions from the Nixon-era Supreme Court.

The trend toward a more progressive Southern delegation is likely to continue this year, as redistricting in the House opens more seats to minority representation. The region is expected to elect at least 10 new minority members, tripling the ranks from the current five. “It’s going to have a dramatic effect,” says Hastings Wyman.

The new representatives will almost certainly include Melvin Watt of Charlotte, North Carolina, a civil-rights attorney and former campaign manager for U.S. Senate candidate Harvey Gantt. Known as an accomplished orator, Watt is running on the two-fold platform of shifting military spending to domestic needs and creating a universal health care plan for all Americans — a dramatic departure from the usual campaign rhetoric of North Carolina congressional candidates.

In addition, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas are all expected to elect progressive black women to the House this year.

Some of the votes of the newcomers may be offset by the increased concentration of white conservatives in non-minority districts. “This could put the pressure on Southern Democrats who represent some of those white districts to move their voting records to the right,” says Wyman.

Still, grassroots activists are excited about the changes that redistricting could spark. Some environmental organizations, for example, have been building coalitions with minorities on issues like the location of hazardous waste facilities in low-income communities. In doing so, the groups have won the support of politicians like Georgia Representative John Lewis. “There’s no stronger environmental champion in Georgia than John Lewis,” says Betsy Loyless, assistant political director for the Sierra Club.

“One of the things the Sierra Club has been delighted to be able to focus on are the new minority-oriented seats,” Loyless says. “For us, it really does represent a sense that the environment will be an issue. The Black Caucus has one of the strongest voting records on environmental issues.”

Loyless and other activists caution that it’s unlikely the conservative coalition will disappear overnight. But thanks to redistricting, the phrase “Southern Democrat” could begin to evoke more images of progressives like John Lewis — and fewer images of Boll Weevils like Howell Heflin.