MSNBC analyst calls Iowa caucus 'the perfect example of systemic racism'
While America awaited the still-unknown results from Monday night's Iowa Democratic caucus, a cable news analyst took the opportunity to explain why the nation's first primary election cycle contest is actually systemically racist.
"The Iowa caucus is essentially the perfect example of systemic racism," MSNBC political analyst Zerlina Maxwell said during a Tuesday morning appearance on the cable network. "Ninety-one percent of the voters in Iowa are white."
Maxwell made the remarks while answering a question about whether or not Democrats ought to be concerned about a dip in turnout numbers among first-time caucus-goers. She went on to hypothesize during her answer that the lower turnout numbers in Iowa were the result of a lower "sense of urgency" among white voters.
"The reason why you see a drop in turnout, I'm just speculating here, it could be perhaps that white children are not in the cages," Maxwell said, in an apparent reference to the detention of illegal immigrant minors at the southern border. "So when you're talking about the tangible pain that black and brown people are feeling, they feel a sense of urgency because their kids are being put in cages, right?"
Entrance polling done by NBC News found that just 35% of Democrats who caucused Monday night were doing so for the first time, compared to 44% in 2016 and 57% in 2008. Entrance polling reported by ABC News found that 91% of Democratic caucus-goers were white.
"And so if you have a 91% white electorate, that sense of urgency may not be reflected in the turnout numbers," Maxwell concluded.
MSNBC’s @ZerlinaMaxwell: "The Iowa caucus is essentially the perfect example of systemic racism. 91% of the voters in Iowa are white."— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 4, 2020
Unlike “white children,” minorities "feel a sense of urgency because their kids are being put in cages, right?" pic.twitter.com/YkMlw3Qqub
The results of Monday night's caucuses were not released due to a technical fiasco related to a new vote-recording app that has drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
In a statement put out Tuesday morning, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price blamed Monday night's breakdown on a "coding issue" with the app.
"While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data," Price said. "We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system. This issue was identified and fixed. The application's reporting issue did not impact the ability of precinct chairs to report data accurately."
Price later told Democratic campaigns that a "majority" of the results would be released at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. A state party spokeswoman followed with a statement saying they will "continue to release results as we are able to."
