Kamala Harris launched a new push to win over Black men on Monday with a raft of economic and policy proposals as well as appearances with Black media hosts as the election turns into the home stretch.
The Democratic presidential nominee appeared Monday on The Shade Room, a popular Black-oriented news and entertainment website, to make a direct appeal for Black men.
“I’m not supposed to have Black men in my pocket,” Harris told interviewer Justin Carter. “Black men are like anyone else: you have to earn their votes.”
With just three weeks to go before Election Day, Harris said her middle-class background gives her a unique insight into policies that could boost the Black community.
“I will never forget where i came from,” she said. “I know the ambition, the aspirations, the incredible work ethic that exist in our community. I know the dreams.”
Harris plans to do an interview Tuesday with The Breakfast Club radio host Charlamagne Tha’ God, who has previously criticized her. The vice president also has a string of appearance with Black athletes and celebrities on the docket.
On Sunday, she attended church at Koinonia Christian Center, a predominantly Black congregation in Greenville, N.C.
“At an early age, I learned that faith is a verb. It is something we show in action and in service,” Harris told the packed church.
Her campaign says Harris’ plans for a so-called opportunity economy would target 1 million loans of up to $20,000 to start-up businesses owned by Black men and others along with expanding mentorship programs and loan-forgiveness for Black male teachers and other underrepresented professions that benefit the community.
She want to launch a new initiative to target diseases that disproportionately impact Black men like diabetes and sickle-cell anemia.
The effort comes as polls suggest Black men are backing Harris by a smaller margin than other recent Democratic presidential candidates.
With polls showing a very tight race, Democrats need to run up the score with Black voters especially in the seven battleground states that will likely determine the winner of the White House race.
Democratic strategist Michael Hardaway urged the campaign to send Harris to Black communities in battleground states as often as possible in the final three weeks of the race.
“The VP has a record to sell but she has to sell it,” Hardaway said. “The way she is going to do that is by by spending as much time as possible in the Black community, in the churches and the neighborhoods in the battleground states, between now and Election Day.”
Trump says his tough talk on immigration, the economy and crime has struck a chord with Black men especially. Even a relatively modest uptick in Black male support could rob Harris and her Democratic allies of the votes they need to win states with large Black communities like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Former President Obama suggested sexism may be holding back some support from Harris among Black men in a blunt speech to supporters in Pittsburgh last week.
Some Black leaders objected to Obama’s tough love approach, but Harris said she’s confident that Black men will wind up coming around to support her in overwhelming numbers when the ballots are tallied.
“Election Day has not arrived yet,” she reminded Carter on The Shade Room.
