Leaders are working to eliminate black voters in the run-up to Election Day

MATT BROWN and FREIDA FRISARO, Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) – Concerts and carnivals held at polling places. Mobilization “Souls for surveys” after Sunday service. And celebrity rallies featuring Hollywood actors, business leaders, music artists and activists.

All of these seemingly disparate efforts have one goal: to increase Black turnout before Election Day.

The Black community’s performance in the 2024 elections was analyzed because of the pivotal role Black voters played in races for the White House, Congress and state legislatures across the country.

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

Harris and Democrats’ key Black voter outreach strategy includes sending the first Black president and his wife, the former first lady, to battleground states where winning may depend on how well the Obamas convince ambivalent or apathetic voters they can’t be in it one outside.

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

“I’m always amazed at how little so many people truly understand how deeply choices impact our daily lives,” Michelle Obama said. “Because this is your vote, you have a chance to tell the authorities what you want.”

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

“Encouraging others to vote helps a lot,” said Regina Tharpe, a Miami resident. She voted early but said people “get excited when they see us walking down the street. It encourages them to come out.”

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

Organizers focusing on Black communities say they often struggle with exhaustion and cynicism in politics, especially among younger Black voters and Black men. However, they are cautiously optimistic that their efforts will bear fruit.

“If you want the people who will be most impacted 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 have included live events in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He added that the group reached more than 8 million voters in those states last month through text messages and digital devices.

“We visited these neighborhoods and communities, these new platforms and websites where misinformation against our communities so often appears,” Brown said.

Other events were more freely structured. For example, the Detroit Pistons hosted the “Pistonsland” festival in the majority-black neighborhood, which featured musical performances by rappers including Lil Baby, carnival games, food trucks and other fanfare, as well as the opportunity to vote. The nonpartisan carnival was built next to the early voting polling place.

“I don’t like any of them,” 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 came to the same conclusion – at least one of his friends was a strong supporter of the former president, he said.

Black voters constitute the largest Democratic voting group in the country. But the Trump campaign has made a more concerted effort to attract more black voters, especially black men, this year.

Trump’s campaign similarly focused on economic arguments. Trump has repeatedly argued that, contrary to economists, illegal immigrants take up “dark jobs.” considering the claim unfounded. The campaign believes the former president’s broader stances on the economy, crime and traditional values ​​resonate with the Black community.

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

GOP Reps. Byron Donalds and Wesley Hunt emerged as key surrogates for Trump’s outreach to black men. As part of the campaign, Donalds hosted a black men’s roundtable in Philadelphia in October. Federation of Black Conservatives, which hosted a gala that Trump attended earlier this yearorganized a “closing argument” on Sunday featuring Donalds and Hunt.