In a heated exchange, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) questioned Elliott Abrams’ credibility as US Special Envoy to Venezuela, given his role in the Iran-Contra affair and support for U.S.-backed coups in the '80s.

I so regret the tweets from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) about Jews from the other day and agree w/those who say she threw away some hard-won power and capital. This article by The Daily Beast shows another side of Omar, questioning Elliott Abrams, who has been appointed as the U.S. Special Envoy to Venezuela. Her questioning leaves me very proud of her.

Watch the video to see the fearless, composed, questioning that Omar is capable of doing. She confronts Abrams about El Salvador and how proud he is of the country as a democracy. Abrams is very dismissive of Omar, but she stays totally focused and on point. ***** (5-stars)

As women, we know this is a hideous answer from Abrams about a country — El Salvador — where femicide runs rampant right under the eyes and noses of the Catholic Church. Women are garbage in El Salvador, and Abrams' answer is very much the white male, hawk answer. She also challenges him on his past lies -- why is he telling the truth now.

Stacey Abrams is the first African-American woman to deliver a State of the Union response in the 53-year history of this tradition. Pool response image via AP.

By Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Scieence and Director of the African American Studies Program, University of Florida. First published on The Conversation

In a brief, direct and optimistic speech about fighting immigrant scapegoating, racism and voter suppression, Stacey Abrams celebrated diversity in her Democratic rebuttal to Donald Trump’s divisive 2019 State of the Union address.

“We will create a stronger America together,” she said.

Abrams is the first African-American woman to deliver a State of the Union response in the 53-year history of this tradition. She is the first black woman to be nominated by a major party to run for governor. Before that, she was the first African-American ever to serve as House minority leader in the Georgia General Assembly.

Her State of the Union response has increased speculation that she is a rising political starwith a bright future in the Democratic Party.

By choosing Abrams to give the State of the Union response, Democrats were clearly reaching out to African-Americans and women, a key base for the party.

But Abrams’ speech also spoke to an often-overlooked constituency the Democratic Party may not have even thought about when they picked her. It’s a constituency Abrams has already cultivated: rural Southerners of color.

Abrams campaigned in both urban and rural counties last year, defying the logic of a Democratic Party that tends to court big city voters while leaving rural Americans to be won over by Republicans like Donald Trump.

Stacey Abrams vows to keep fighting for voting rights in a speech, November 16, 2018. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Forgotten Southerners

I have been studying minority politics in the South for over 20 years.

The rural South is home to about 90 percent of America’s entire black rural population, and politics in this region have long been defined by black and white polarization. The South was a Democratic stronghold until the civil rights movement, and Democrats know they can’t win national office without winning here.

But the South – both urban and rural – is changing. In recent decades, a large number of Asian and Hispanic immigrants have settled in Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolinaand other southern states, bringing greater demographic and political diversity to this formerly black-and-white region.

Chinese immigrants first came to rural southern areas like the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War, so Asian-Americans have deep roots in the South. But between 2000 and 2010, the population of Asian-Americans in the South grew 69 percent, to over 3.8 million, largely due to the region’s many job opportunities and affordable housing.

The South’s Hispanic population has grown by 70 percent in recent years, surpassing 2.3 million people in 2010, when the last U.S. Census was taken. Many of these individuals have settled in rural communities, filling agricultural and other jobs and sending their children to public school.

Racial and ethnic minorities now make up over 20 percent of the entire rural population in 10 southern states, from Florida to Virginia.