By NOMAAN MERCHANT, Associated Press
DALLAS – For two decades, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has been an outspoken voice for Democrats in her signature bright blazer and multicolored scarf.
Now the first black woman to represent North Texas in Congress faces serious opposition in the May 29 primary election, and the effort to unseat her is just one of several challenges against some of the longest-serving black members of Congress.
“I will always be ever more grateful for the trails that she has blazed,” said Eva Jones, owner of a barbeque restaurant who was chairwoman of Johnson’s first House campaign in 1992. But “there has come a time where we need new leadership, like in any business, like with anything.”
Longtime black incumbents in Dallas, Detroit and New York City are being challenged by a younger generation of black office-seekers who aren’t waiting for retirements by the old guard, including nationally known figures whose activism dates to the civil rights movement.