Op-Ed: Why Jeffries Will Defeat Barron Handily

Noted political scholar Andra Gillespie says Hakeem Jeffries will likely win an easy victory over Charles Barron in the race to replace retiring Congressman Ed Towns.

“He’s going to probably beat Charles Barron handily,” said Dr. Andra Gillespie, author of the recent book “The New Black Politician,” published by NYU Press.

I am a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College.

Gillespie is a political science professor at Emory University and studies black politics across the nation. She spoke with me in a phone interview on Friday, May 11.

I recorded the interviewed, edited it and put the relevant parts into a slide show here on Bed-Stuy Patch.

Gillespie is an interesting person. She draws conclusions based on fair parsing of the information she obtains. The final section of her book is impressive, in that she speaks openly of her efforts to maintain a balance and fairness in her research and writing, of the kind journalists say they try to apply.

The main reason Jeffires will likely win, Gillespie says, is this: The newly redrawn district includes more young professionals, including whites, who are turned off by Barron’s “hyper racialized” rhetoric and positions.

In her new book Gillespie focuses heavily on Newark Mayor Corey Booker, shining a light on him that reveals his political strengths and shortcomings.

While Jeffries is closer to the relatively conservative Booker, in many respects, than Barron is, the differences between Jeffries and Booker are sharp, Gillespie says.

Jeffries is far more politically progressive and racially sensitive than Booker is, she argues.

He also has the ability to appeal to a very wide segment of voters, racially aware blacks as well as whites, Latinos and others, she said.