Black Democrats, Black Democrat party operatives, and many Black voters united their fundraising efforts through social media, in hopes of electing Vice President Kamala Harris to the presidency of the United States as President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election, just weeks before the August 19 – 22, Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Spurring thousands across the country to action, President Biden’s July 21 decision to withdraw from the race and endorse the vice president as his party’s pre-convention frontrunner, effectively placed the future of the presidency into the hands of Black voters, according to some analysts and as the United States approaches what Mr. Biden later called an “inflection point” making Harris a serious contender for the Oval Office.
“They were all hearing about the same thing: a Sunday night Zoom call organized to support the nascent presidential bid of Vice President Harris—who could be the first Black woman elected president—after President Biden announced the end of his candidacy earlier that day,” The Washington Post said of Black women’s immediate response to the president’s decision to drop out of the race in an article published July 22.
“More than 44,000 people logged onto a Zoom call to support Harris and raised more than $1.5 million for her campaign in three hours, according to Win With Black Women founder Jotaka Eaddy,” The Post story continued.
“Anybody that does not think that Black and Brown women are the backbone of this party, they don’t know us,” Star Jones … lawyer and former talk show host, told The Washington Post. “[Harris] has already been leading by example. We are going to support her, we’re going to raise money for her, and we’re going to get out the vote for her,” the news article quoted her as saying.
Win With Black Women’s stated goal was to raise $1 million in 100 days, but according to organizers, they reached that mark in 100 minutes. By Monday afternoon, Win With Black Women raised more than $1.6 million from more than 13,000 donors, The Post reported.
Appearing in Milwaukee, July 23, Vice President Kamala Harris said that “the path to the White House goes through Wisconsin” and that the state’s largest city would play an important role in capturing its crucial 10 electoral votes. “We are counting on you right here in Milwaukee,” Ms. Harris said during her first campaign speech as a nominee for the 2024 elections.
“You all helped us win in 2020, and in 2024, we will win again,” she insisted while expressing gratitude for President Biden’s three-and-a-half years as president and for his 50 years of serving in political office. “And it is my great honor to have Joe Biden’s endorsement in this race,” she said.
According to WorldPopulationReview.com, as of 2024, Milwaukee has a total population of 556,111 people, of which 38.76 percent is White, 38.61 percent is Black, 9.93 percent claim two or more races, 7.34 percent claim other, 4.75 percent Asian, 0.6 percent Native American and 0.02 percent are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. On the national level, a robust turnout among Black voters could sway this battleground state in favor of one of the two major political parties.
Following the success of the Win With Black Women social media fundraiser the night of President Biden’s initial announcement, journalist and media personality Roland S. Martin and the Black Star Network responded by hosting a call via the internet in support of “the sisters’ efforts,”
Featuring Khalil Thompson, the executive director of Win With Black Men; Bakari Sellers, a lawyer and political commentator; Michael Blake, founder and CEO of Kairos Democracy and Atlas Strategy Group; and Quentin James, president of The Collective PAC and the Vote To Live Action Fund.
A reported 60,000 people tuned in to the call which was held July 21.
According to the New Pittsburgh Courier, a recurring theme on the call was protection. “We are going to disagree a lot. But let’s put the petty bickering aside. Let’s stand up and be the Black men who change this country,” Mr. Sellers was quoted as saying.
“Sisters, as they always do, have been leading the charge, and we’re trying to catch up to them,” Thompson told the outlet. “We’re really excited to see this groundswell of support. I remember when my father took me and my brothers to the Million Man March back in 1995.
We want to have that same groundswell and that feeling. This is about us showing up and making the best decisions for our community. … It’s about electing and hiring people that are going to represent our communities and bring the best for our communities back when they’re in office,” he said.
“I think we have to support our communities and our brothers who are frustrated,” Thompson continued. “But there is not one person that has been elected to office that’s a perfect human being because none of us are. And so, making sure that there’s not a litmus test or a purity test that we’re going to hold one particular party to and not hold the other to.
I think that is a detriment to us all. It is important that I believe we show up and support Kamala Harris. I think when we make it about one particular person, then each election is just about that person. We are calling for a transformative moment,” the BlackEnterprise.com story read in part.
Demonstrating that Black Americans are in fact well capable of uniting to pool their money, their resources, and their time to facilitate a collective self-interest to promote an agenda on the national level when called for, participants called their on-line event unprecedented.
“This is a huge moment for all of us tonight, the largest gathering of Black men in politics in recent history and we are united to support our sister, Vice President Kamala Harris for president,” said Mr. James, event co-host and co-founder of The Collective PAC, describing how the aim and purpose of the ‘Win With Black Men’ online meeting was designed not only to raise funds to elect Kamala Harris to office, but also to support activism around electing other Black candidates to confront and counter agendas harmful to Black communities across the country.
Raising a reported $1.3 million in four hours, participants included a wide cross-section of guest speakers ranging from elected state, county, and local officials, urban and rural, young and old, business and labor, secular and religious, united around preventing the interests and agendas of those seeking to implement policies they agreed are detrimental to Black and progressive advancements made over the last 60 years.
“It’s so very important that everyone on this network, everyone that’s been on this call, talks to people about how to register to vote, where to vote, and how to make sure their vote is counted,” said Steven Reed, Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, and president of the African American Mayors Association.
“The other side is set up to steal this election, the other side is set up to take away votes and deny people their legal right to vote, they’ve done it through the courts, they’ve done it through the legislation, they’ve done it through the secretaries of state and other election officials,” Mayor Reed said.
According to several news outlets, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign raised more than $100 million between the afternoon of Sunday, July 21 and the evening of Monday, July 22, the campaign said, reported cbsnews.com.
After initial endorsements by former President Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, other Democrats expressed their support. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and according to the Washington Post, in an open letter, several senior foreign policy leaders in the Democratic Party endorsed Vice President Harris for president on July 23,
According to the Post there were more than 350 signatories to the letter, including former national security advisers Susan Rice and Thomas E. Donilon; former Secretary of State John F. Kerry and former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta. According to several media outlets, former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama have also endorsed Vice President Harris.
