Black Delegates at GOP Convention at Lowest Level in History

The percentage of Black delegates at this year’s Republican convention in Cleveland has dropped to its lowest level in recorded history — around 0.7 percent — with only 18 Black delegates out of a total of 2,472.

The RNC does not break out Latino or Asian delegates, and the breakout of those delegates does not appear to be tracked by third parties.

The data compiled by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which has recorded the number of Black delegates at every GOP convention back to 1912, found that the highest number and percentage of Black delegates at a Republican convention was for the re-nomination of President George W. Bush in 2004. During that gathering in New York City, 167 Black delegates represented 6.5 percent of all GOP delegates, a number that has since plummeted.

During the last presidential election in 2012, 47 Black delegates represented 2.1 percent of the total GOP delegates at the convention in Tampa, and in 2008, when Sen. John McCain was nominated to run against then-Sen. Barack Obama, 39 Black delegates represented 1.6 percent of GOP delegates in St. Paul, Minnesota.