States where African-American candidates have a hard time winning statewide

[Zioneer]

I think an African-American candidate would be able to win in every US state right now.

That candidate of course has to be in the right party though (GOP in the South and heavily-GOP states and Democratic in the Dem. states), run a good campaign and raise a good amount of cash.

Tim Scott for example didn't have much of a problem in South Carolina, it's just that a Democratic Black cannot win there.

Mia Love in Utah is the same way; the fact that she's a Black Republican Mormon means she can win in Utah. If she were a Black Democratic Mormon, she'd have no chance. Simple as that.

[Zioneer]

Utah, given how narrowly Mia Love won as a well-funded Republican.

I don't think even a staunch conservative AA candidate would have an easy ride in Alabama.

Nah, Mia Love lost the first time and narrowly won the second time because she's a terrible, undisciplined candidate, and in the second election, Doug Owens ended up being a better campaigner and GOTVer than anyone expected. It wasn't racism. When Mormons are racist, they're racist to non-Mormon minorities, not Mormon minorities.

[Zioneer]

Pretty sure we won't see an African-American represent Vermont anytime soon.

Doesn't Utah have about as low a percentage of African-Americans as Vermont? Checking Wikipedia... Looks like the 2010 census says that Vermont had 1% African-American population, and Utah has 1.1% (probably because of Somali and Sudanese refugees; we've got a couple thousand of them).

All states with less than 10% African-Americans. Neither party would be inclined to select an African-American in those.

We'll see in 2018... Utah at least could elect an African-American statewide, and I'm sure that a few other states could as well.