Trump's election energizes Congressional Black Caucus

Black lawmakers did help turn out the largest number of African-American voters in modern history for Obama's two presidential campaigns; African-Americans voted at a higher rate than non-Hispanic whites in 2012, 66.2 percent versus 64.1 percent.

[...] those lawmakers felt disappointed when Obama did not focus as much as they would have liked on issues their minority constituents valued: criminal justice and policing, minority representation on the Supreme Court and other high offices, bringing jobs and industry to rural and inner city areas.

Obama's departure will refocus attention on the caucus, said Fredrick Harris, a Columbia University political science professor and director of its Center on African-American Politics and Society.

With Trump as president, "The CBC will be even more vocal than they were during the Obama era when their voices were muted by the Obama White House and their surrogates who pushed back on criticism that the president was not paying enough attention to racial issues," Harris said.

Todd Shaw, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina, thinks Obama may leave the caucus in a better position than before he became president.