SWAMP Audits

In his book Are White Men Smarter Than Everybody Else?, Democracy in Color founder Steve Phillips introduced SWAMP—Straight White American Male Preference—a framework for examining the persistent overrepresentation of straight white men in positions of power and influence across major sectors in America.

Steve developed the concept of SWAMP audits as a tool to make those patterns visible, using data to examine who holds power, who gets resources, and who makes the decisions.

Democracy in Color plans on launching a series of SWAMP audits applying this framework to various sectors. We began with an examination of the Democratic Party ecosystem. That audit report, which was released in August 2026, was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle. This ongoing series aims to bring greater transparency and accountability to how power and resources are distributed — and to help us all see clearly where change is needed.

SWAMP Audit of the Democratic Party

Released in August 2026, our first SWAMP Audit examined the Democratic Party ecosystem. Our analysis found a troubling pattern: the Democratic Party is disproportionately putting its trust and resources in the hands of white people, especially white men. View Here.