Back in June, 32 black Republicans were running for Congress. Three months and dozens of primaries later, that number has dwindled to just 13 people, only a handful of whom -- three, according to New York Times statistician Nate Silver -- actually have a strong chance of winning come November: Allen West of Florida, Ryan Frazier of Colorado and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Still, three black Republicans in the House will be three more than there's been in seven years, since Oklahoman J.C. Watts retired, and it's got a lot of people buzzing. To quote New York magazine: "Considering the status quo [in Congress], next year will look like a Tyler Perry movie in comparison."

Naturally, talk of black Congress members leads to talk of the Congressional Black Caucus. Founded in 1969, the CBC is now the leading African-American policymaking body in the United States, with 42 members representing every region of the continental United States. There's just one problem: The CBC doesn't have a single Republican member.

In its decades-long history, the CBC has had just two Republican members: Delegate Melvin Evans of the Virgin Islands and Rep. Gary Franks of Connecticut, who would occasionally clash with his Democratic colleagues. When the CBC boycotted President Richard Nixon's 1971 State of the Union address to protest his refusal to meet with them, they chose not to ask African-American Senator Edward Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, to join their cause. Brooke condemned the CBC boycott, saying, "It is my duty as a United States senator to be present, to listen and to consider his recommendations."

Watts, who never attempted to join the caucus, was not as cordial in his rebuke of the body. Before he retired, he called the CBC a bunch of "race-hustling poverty pimps."

With animosity seemingly on both sides, one might think that future black Republican members of Congress would have no interest in joining the CBC. As it turns out, many are saying differently.

Allen West, who is running against incumbent Ron Klein in Florida, told the Daily Caller in a July interview that, if elected, he'd actively seek CBC membership. "I think I have every right to," said West, who has advocated for the dismantling of the departments of Education and Energy. "I would be in Congress, and I would be black, and so I should be able to sit with them and, again, bring a different perspective."