Leaders are working to turn out Black voters ahead of Election Day

By MATT BROWN and FREIDA FRISARO, Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) – Concerts and carnivals organized at polling places. “Souls to the polls” mobilizations after Sunday services. And star-studded gatherings with Hollywood actors, business leaders, music artists and activists.

Such seemingly disparate efforts all have one goal: to increase Black voter turnout before Election Day.

How Black communities will evolve in the 2024 elections has come under scrutiny because of the crucial role Black voters have played in the races for the White House, Congress and state legislatures across the country.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who if elected would be the second Black president, has made engaging Black voters a priority of her messaging and policy platform. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has tried to make inroads into Democrats’ most consistent voting bloc with unorthodox and sometimes controversial outreach.

A key strategy in Harris and Democrats’ black voter outreach includes sending the first black president and his wife, the former first lady, to battleground states where winning could depend on how well the Obamas convince ambivalent or apathetic voters that they not allowed to do. one out.

Democratic efforts ranged from vigorous door-knocking campaigns in Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia this weekend to swinging state rallies. Michelle Obama rallied voters in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, along with Grammy award-winning artist Alicia Keys, while Barack Obama stunned in Milwaukee on Sunday. The former first lady also held her own scrupulously nonpartisan rally Tuesday, where speakers evoked the South’s civil rights history.

“I’m always amazed at how few people really understand how deeply elections affect our daily lives,” said Michelle Obama. “Because that is really your voice, it is your opportunity to tell those in power what you want.”

Efforts to increase Black voter turnout often start at the community level. In Miami, members of local churches gathered Sunday at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center and marched to a nearby voting center as part of a Souls to the Polls event.

“It really helps to encourage others to vote,” said Regina Tharpe, a Miami resident. She had previously voted, but said people “get excited when they see us walking down the street. It encourages them to go outside.”

First-time voter Sharina Perez brought her mother, Celina DeJesus, to vote on the final day of early voting in Florida. She said a number of issues inspired her to vote. “It was for myself, my future, my mother’s future and for the younger generation,” she said.

Organizers who target Black communities say they often combat exhaustion and cynicism about politics, especially among younger Black voters and Black men. But they are cautiously optimistic that their efforts will pay off.

“If you want the people who are going to be most affected to come out, you have to go where they are,” said Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, whose campaigns targeting Black voters include live events in Georgia include. Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The group has reached more than 8 million voters in those states via text message and digitally in the past month, he said.

“We’ve gone to those districts and communities, to those new platforms and websites where so much misinformation is targeted at our communities,” Brown said.

Other events had a more free-flowing structure. The Detroit Pistons, for example, organized a “Pistonsland” festival in a predominantly black neighborhood with musical performances by rappers like Lil Baby, carnival games, food trucks and other fanfare, in addition to the opportunity to vote. The nonpartisan carnival was built next to an early election polling station.

“I don’t like either one,” said Karl Patrick, a Detroit native who attended the festival. However, he strongly supported Harris, “because Trump wants to be a dictator.” Not all of his close friends had come to the same conclusion — at least one of his friends fervently supported the former president, he said.

Black voters are the most overwhelmingly Democratic voting group in the country. But the Trump campaign has made a more coordinated pitch to win over a larger share of black voters this year, especially black men.

The Trump campaign has also focused on economic arguments. Trump has repeatedly argued that undocumented immigrants take “black jobs,” despite economists considers the claim unfounded. The campaign believes the former president’s broader tone on the economy, crime and traditional values ​​is attractive to Black communities.

“If Kamala wanted to change our country, she would do it now,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Janiyah Thomas. “We deserve more than symbolic gestures – we deserve a leader who respects us, empowers us and backs this up with action.”

Republican Reps. Byron Donalds and Wesley Hunt have emerged as key surrogates in Trump’s outreach to black men. The campaign hosted a roundtable discussion for black barbershops with Donalds in Philadelphia in October. The Black Conservative Federation, where a gala was held earlier this year and Trump attendedheld a “closing argument” event with Donalds and Hunt on Sunday.