Today, the Biden-Harris campaign launched a new initiative for Black voters: Black Voters for Biden-Harris.
They’re kicking off summer outreach by announcing an “eight-figure investment in engagement programming with Black student organizations, community groups, and faith centers nationally and across battleground states,” according to a press release shared with ESSENCE.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were on hand at today’s campaign launch at the rally, along with a group of national Black surrogates and community leaders. In addition, smaller events with the NAACP and other civic organizations are also planned throughout the day and the rest of the week.
“Our campaign believes that Black voters deserve to hear from Team Biden-Harris, and they deserve to have their vote earned, not assumed. That’s exactly what we are doing through historic investments in Black media and outreach, creative engagement efforts, culturally competent content and innovative organizing initiatives,” states the press release.
Following today’s launch, Black Voters for Biden-Harris has planned “a weekend of action – including Black church engagement in Arizona, new office openings throughout Georgia, a community-led block party-style celebration in Nevada, community hub events across barber shops and hair salons in Michigan, and more. Organizing events will also take place throughout the weekend in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Nebraska, Florida, and Georgia.”
According to the ESSENCE “Power of the Sister Vote” poll in partnership with the Black Women's Roundtable, which surveyed Black women across the country, asking which issues mattered the most, the economy is at the forefront, along with inflation, and reducing gun violence. Looking ahead to this presidential election, 86 percent of Black women want the cost of living to be reduced and 88 percent of Black women are supportive of reproductive freedoms. However, only a third of Black women respondents believed that Biden kept the majority of his 2020 campaign promises.
Recognizing the importance of Black women, the Biden-Harris campaign says it is committed to centering Black women and the issues that are “essential to their homes, workplaces, and communities.” The President and Vice President want voters to know how they have been fighting and will continue working “to improve health care, cut costs, and protect and restore fundamental rights for Black women.”
Specifically, the Biden administration has been working to lower costs that many Black women incur, including child care, elder care, and preschool, in addition to proposing a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, cancelling student debt and lowering the average student loan repayment amount. With regards to Black women and reproductive rights, President Biden and Vice President Harris have been diligently working to confront the Black maternal health mortality crisis and restore reproductive health care in a post Roe v. Wade world. They have also implemented a new Maternal Mental Health Hotline on top of facilitating more and diverse healthcare workers, including physicians, midwives, and doulas.
As Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett told ESSENCE, “The bottom line is this: no administration has delivered more for Black women than President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
“For the last four years the Biden-Harris administration has put Black women at the forefront: attacked the life threatening Black maternal health crisis head on by allowing states to expand Medicaid postpartum coverage from just 60 days to 12 months, impacting approximately 65 percent of births for Black mothers, increased the women’s labor force participation to historic highs – resulting in almost 1 million more Black women employed under this administration, not to mention appointing the first Black women to the Supreme Court,” Crockett continued.
“Black women have so much at stake in this election – it is imperative that we show up in November to ensure Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have four more years to deliver on the issues we care about most,” added Crockett.
In the press release, Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks stated, “Today’s launch of the Black Voters for Biden-Harris coalition is yet another example of our campaign working diligently to earn every single vote. This coalition and the newly announced summer outreach and engagement programming serve as the next phase of our campaign’s ongoing historic investments in outreach to the backbone of the Biden-Harris coalition – Black voters.”
“While we are busy putting in the work to earn Black America’s support – Donald Trump continues to show just how ignorant he is. Hosting janky rap concerts to hide the fact that he lacks the resources and competence to genuinely engage our community,” said Fulks. “We will continue to be aggressive, innovative, and thorough in our work to earn the support of the very voters who sent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House in 2020 and will do so again in 2024.”