Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge walks the halls of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, focused on the solution to help improve the quality of life for many African-Americans: voting.

As chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio, says voting rights is a top priority for the organization this year.
But one of her challenges, she explains, is making sure African-Americans understand their voting power in the upcoming congressional and gubernatorial midterm elections as well as the 2016 presidential election when President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black commander in chief, will not be on the ballot.

“People of color, single women in particular, people who have kids in school, these are people who need to vote more than any other groups,” Fudge tells EBONY. “I don’t think people realize how politics touches every part of their lives. I hope we convince people that voting is not just a one-time event; it’s a movement. It’s something that we have to do all the time because every single election is important. We need to make people understand that voting does make a difference.”The midterm general election will be held on Nov. 4, 2014. The election will feature races for the governorship of 36 states, 35 seats in the U.S. Senate and 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House of Representatives is still firmly in the control of the Republican Party, and if the GOP wins six seats in the Democratic-majority Senate, the GOP could control the Senate and the House and block Obama’s legislative agenda during his remaining two years in office.

Read more in the June 2014 issue of EBONY Magazine.