Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign this week is launching its clearest effort yet to target Black men, announcing a new set of policy proposals, ramped-up programming and a media blitz — all designed to engage Black male voters as Republicans make a play for the typically Democratic constituency.
“As we approach the final stretch here, she wants to make sure that we are speaking directly to a constituency that has always been important for her, and that’s Black men,” said Michael Tyler, the Harris-Walz campaign’s communications director.
The vice president on Monday outlined her “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men.” The policies include a plan to provide as many as 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 for Black entrepreneurs; further investment into training, mentorship and apprenticeship programs designed to help Black men land jobs in high-demand industries; and the legalization of recreational marijuana, paired with a concerted effort to make sure Black men are able to access wealth and jobs in that market.
“This agenda is a further realization of Vice President Harris’ Opportunity Economy, where Black men are equipped with the tools to thrive: to buy a home, to provide for our families, start a business and build wealth,” Harris-Walz campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said.
Black men have historically voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates, with turnout typically lagging that of Black women but consistent nonetheless. This cycle, polling shows a historic gender gap, with Trump overperforming with men of all races. Republicans are trying to capitalize on this development, fueling concerns among Democrats of a potential — albeit marginal — shift in Black voter sentiment.
Even a relatively small drop in support from Black men for Harris could be significant given the razor-thin margins in battleground states.
An estimated 90% of Black men voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, but a new New York Times/Siena College poll showed 78% planning to vote for Harris now, with 15% supporting former President Donald Trump.
And a recent Howard University poll of Black voters across battleground states found 82% of those voters say they’ll vote for Harris, 12% say they’ll vote for Trump and another 5% are undecided. According to that poll, Trump’s gains were most prominent among Black men under 50, more than 20% of whom say they plan to support the former president this November.
Concerns over those voting trends were put on display by former President Barack Obama, who, during an event in Pittsburgh last week, called out tepid support among Black men for Harris.
“On the other side, you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person. And you’re thinking about sitting out, and you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Obama said. “I’ve got a problem with that because, because, part of it makes me think — I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman that’s president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for it.”
Several prominent Black Republicans pounced on Obama’s remark as evidence of the entitlement they say Democrats feel over Black voters, knocking the former president for chastising Black men as misogynistic rather than taking into concern legitimate criticisms they may have about the Democratic Party.
“He’s proving our point,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., posted on X in response to Obama. “Yea, Black voters are leaving the Democrat Party, but not for the hogwash reasons he’s giving. They’ve had enough.”
The Trump campaign’s “Black Men for Trump” advisory board, launched by the campaign in September to assist with messaging and programming, condemned Obama’s remark as “insulting.”
“Black Americans are not a monolith, and we don’t owe our votes to any candidate just because they ‘look like us.’ It’s demeaning to suggest that we can’t evaluate a candidate’s track record,” the board wrote.
Trump himself interpreted Obama’s comments as an acknowledgment of his edge with the voting bloc, posting on his social media platform, “Obama admits a total lack of enthusiasm for Kamala, especially with Black Men.”
Asked about Obama’s comments during an interview with the online news site The Shade Room, Harris reiterated her plan to “earn the vote” of Black men and noted that Obama also referenced the “danger” of re-electing Trump in his response.
A senior Harris campaign official told NBC News they were “very, very supportive” of Obama’s comments, feeling it started an important conversation around Black men’s voting choices.
“He has opened up a permission structure for internal conversations, for people to call out a specific dynamic, with a specific slice of the electorate,” the campaign official said. “I think the conversation is helpful. The more Black men see themselves as the center of the political discourse and understand the power that they have in this election, the better.”
The Trump campaign, too, sees the benefit of Black men being at the center of the discourse, confident that Trump’s broader message of prosperity and nostalgia for the pre-pandemic economy under his presidency, and his high-profile endorsements from people like rapper Lil Wayne, will aid the former president.
“Black men prioritize being the primary breadwinners of the household and care about real wages and permanent jobs. Ultimately, President Trump’s economic policies offered more opportunities to build generational & permanent wealth for Black families and voters of all ethnicities know it,” Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign’s Black media director, said in a statement.
The Trump campaign has done fewer Black-focused events and has had less investment in advertising targeting this demographic, but the former president joined a roundtable with Black business leaders in Atlanta ahead of a rally there in August. Two of his Black allies, Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, in June also held a “Congress, Cognac and Cigars“ event in Atlanta, an event specifically designed to boost support for Trump among Democratic-leaning Black men.
And in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, Scott held the first in a series of “Black Empowerment” financial literacy events the campaign plans to host across battleground states.
Harris’ focus on increasing wealth as part of her outreach to Black men is the result of a monthslong effort to combat the economic focus of Trump’s messaging.
In April, she launched a nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour, an avenue for her to tout the record pace of Black business ownership and record lows in Black unemployment the Biden-Harris administration has overseen since entering office. That’s a winning strategy according to Leo Smith, a political strategist who has conducted several focus groups of Black men in Georgia.
“The vice president is actually doing a good job right now, which is sort of counterculture to the Democratic Party. She’s actually asserting an economic agenda for home ownership. She’s asserting an economic agenda for business ownership. She’s doing things that actually Black men liked about Donald Trump when it came to economic policy,” Smith said.
That shift has already aided her in winning over Black groups that have at times been skeptical of Democratic candidates.
Last month, a super PAC representing more than 50,000 Black men, the Justice Equality and Economics PAC, endorsed Harris’ campaign two years after backing Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp over his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams.
Omar Ali, the founder of the PAC, said the endorsement came after conversations with several members of Harris’ team, both campaign surrogates and executive branch staffers, including Dilawar Syed, the deputy administration of the Small Business Administration and the highest-ranking Muslim official in the administration, whom he met in his personal capacity earlier this year.
“We presented our idea for changing a couple things within policy to help small business and African American businesses. Them willing to listen to us, them willing to agree that change needs to be made with certain things was enough for us to feel comfortable endorsing, given the fact that the other side would not meet with us,” Ali said.
Ali attempted to schedule similar conversations with the Trump campaign but was rebuffed, finding it “difficult” to reach any members of the campaign’s national apparatus after several conversations with lower-level staffers in the campaign’s Georgia office.
Ultimately, Ali was offered an opportunity to meet Trump — for a photo op — at one of his rallies, an offer he called “highly disrespectful.”
The Trump campaign declined to weigh in on Ali’s comments.
The release of Harris’ push for Black men comes amid a media blitz by Harris, who this month has sat down for several interviews intended to reach Black audiences.
On Sunday, following a meeting with 50 Black faith leaders and an appearance at a predominantly Black church in Greenville, North Carolina, Harris participated in an interview with Roland Martin. That evening, she recorded an interview with Justin Carter of The Shade Room.
On Tuesday, Harris will participate in a radio town hall with popular syndicated radio host Charlamagne tha God. Earlier this month she also appeared on the “All the Smoke” podcast hosted by former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.
The Harris campaign also plans to ramp up its programming specifically designed to engage Black men. This week, it is set to partner with Black male celebrities, influencers and activists to hold “Black Men Huddle Up” events in battleground states, NFL and NCAA watch parties that will double as an avenue for Black men to discuss the stakes of the election. The campaign’s Black voter engagement team will continue hosting barbershop roundtable events, canvassing drives and holding a Black men’s forum discussion in Milwaukee this week.
Harris will have the backing of high-profile Black entertainers and athletes, including musicians Jermaine Dupri and John Legend, who have headlined campaign events in Atlanta in recent weeks, and NBA legend Magic Johnson, who is a co-chair of the campaign’s Athletes for Harris coalition group.
“Our Black men, we gotta get them out to vote. That’s number one. Kamala’s opponent promised a lot of things last time to the Black community that he did not deliver on, and we’ve got to make sure we help Black men understand that,” Johnson said at a Harris rally this month in Flint, Michigan.