With three weeks until Election Day, and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump locked in a margin-of-error battle for the White House, the vice president is making a full court press for Black men.
The moves come just days after former President Barack Obama, in comments that went viral, admonished Black male voters for a lack of enthusiasm in support of Harris. Obama’s comments came as polls indicate Trump is making gains with Black men, who are traditionally some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters.
Harris, in battleground Michigan on Tuesday, will take part in a town hall discussion in Detroit with radio talk show host Charlamagne Tha God, whose “The Breakfast Club” program is popular with Black listeners.
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The Breakfast Club radio show co-host Charlamagne Tha God argued that the “America first” message resonates with voters, particularly in the current moment as a nation. (Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM YouTube channel)
Before sitting down for the town hall conversation, which will be heard on radio stations and on-line nationwide, the vice president will stop at a local Black-owned business, where her campaign highlights that she will “have a conversation with Detroit area Black men about how her ‘Opportunity Agenda’ will help equip them with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights.”
Harris on Monday rolled out the new agenda, which aims to boost financial and career prospects for Black men. She highlighted her proposals on “The Shade Room,” which offers trending news to the Black community, and with Black newscaster Roland Martin.
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During a stop at a Black-owned coffee shop and record store in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is another crucial battleground state, the vice president also showcased her agenda – which includes providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business, championing education, training and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)
Monday’s stops followed a weekend when Harris met in swing state North Carolina with Black faith leaders in Raleigh on Saturday and attended church services in Greenville on Sunday, followed by a conversation with Black farmers.
The Harris campaign notes that the vice president “will continue engaging with Black voters.”
The campaign also spotlights that it is also enlisting the support of influential entrepreneurs for what it calls an “Economic Freedom Talk” series with Black business owners.
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The new effort comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned about wavering support among Black men, and in particular younger Black men, for Harris, who would make history if she is elected as the nation’s first female president.
The Trump campaign argued on Monday that “Kamala Harris is in full-blown desperation mode as she spends the waning days of the campaign attempting to stop the bleeding among voting blocs most traditionally aligned with Democrats. Nowhere is that more evident than in her outreach to Black Americans — voters of whom Democrats have taken advantage for generations.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 in Oaks, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Harris and Trump are locked in a neck and neck race in the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House race. Any erosion of support among Black voters, and in particular Black males, could prove costly to the vice president.
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Obama, speaking Thursday at a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh, recollected the surge in support among Black voters that boosted him toward history in 2008 to become the nation’s first Black president. He bluntly said he could not understand why Harris was not enjoying the same level of enthusiasm, noting that the hesitation was “more pronounced with the brothers.”
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Obama said. “I’ve got a problem with that.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event in support of Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 2024. (REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki)
Speaking directly to Black males, the former president said that “part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
As expected, Black supporters of Trump quickly rebuked the former president.
“President Obama’s recent call for Black men to support Kamala Harris based solely on her skin color, rather than her policies, is deeply insulting,” the Black Men for Trump advisory board argued this weekend.
However, some Democrats also called out the former president for his remarks, arguing that Obama unfairly admonished Black men without striking a similar chord with other demographic groups that have also expressed increased support for Trump.