GREAT REPLACEMENT:

It's a dramatic turn of events for a group of candidates who have traditionally struggled to raise the huge sums of money necessary to win marquee statewide elections. As a result, they've frequently faced skepticism about their electoral viability or failed to achieve buy-in for their campaigns from party brass.

"This may be an era where we can level the playing field," said Donna Brazile, a former Democratic National Committee chair. "I think Black candidates have proven more and more than ever that we're talented, but we didn't have the resources to compete...this is the future. This is what I think Dr. [Martin Luther] King and his generation always envisioned."

While individual Black candidates have posted robust fundraising performances in the past, there may never have been a quarter where quite so many raised quite so much. Warnock's leading Republican challenger, former football star Herschel Walker, collected $3.8 million in his first five weeks of campaigning. In North Carolina, former state Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, pulled in $1.5 million over the course of the fundraising quarter that lasted from July through the end of September.

Glynda Carr, founder and CEO of Higher Heights, which supports Black female Democratic candidates, points to Demings and Beasley as "proof of concept."

"We continue to prove that we're the best return on investment," Carr said. "We see more and more donors and institutions supporting Black women early. And so we're moving in the right direction."

The standout numbers weren't just limited to the South. In Kentucky, Charles Booker, a former state legislator fresh off a 2020 Senate Democratic primary defeat in which he was financially outgunned, raised $1.7 million. And in Wisconsin, Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes pulled in $1.1 million in his crowded Senate primary, raising more from donors -- both big- and small-dollar -- than two of his wealthy white primary opponents, who needed huge personal loans to break the $1 million mark.

Tweet   @brothersjudd