During a guest appearance on MSNBC’s Velshi, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II suggested Democrats need to stop chasing suburban voters and pursue “poor and low-wealth voters” instead.

In a Sunday interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Barber, who runs a non-profit aimed at reviving the morals of America, discussed the importance of lower income voters in elections, particularly in the South, where that particular demographic often chooses to not vote at all.

“Those persons making under $30,000 a year voted 12 points higher for Democrats, according to exit polls,” Barber began. “Those making under $50,000 a year voted about 5% higher.”

“There’s not a state in this country where poor and low-wage voters do not have at least 30% of the electorate. And in every state where the margin of victories is within 3%, poor and low-wealth voters have over 40% of the electorate. So you can’t win by ignoring poor and low-wealth votes,” he continued.

Barber used Georgia and North Carolina as prime examples.

“In Georgia, for instance, 1.2 million people here are uninsured. 1.9 million workers make less than $15 an hour. That’s 47% of the workforce. You have to speak to them,” he said. “1 million voters in Georgia did not — poor and low-wealth voters who were eligible — did not vote, but the margin of victory in 2020, for instance, for the president was only 150,000 votes. North Carolina in 2020, a million poor, low-wealth voters who were eligible to vote didn’t vote.”

“The margin of victory was only 70,000. In Wisconsin 645,000 poor low-wealth voters didn’t vote in 2020, but the margin of victory was only 20,000. In Arizona, in 2020, for instance, the number of poor and low-wealth voters who didn’t vote was 756,000, and the margin of victory was only 10,000 votes,” he added.

Barber argued that the solution to this issue is for Democrats to stop “chasing” suburban voters.

“So you cannot ignore, and that’s one of the things we’re saying to Democrats and progressives — stop chasing the elusive suburban vote, but focus clearly and intensely on poor and low-wealth voters who tend to, when they vote, vote progressive if they’re targeted,” Barber concluded.

Watch above via Velshi on MSNBC.

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