Harris mobilizes grassroots activists, sorority sisters. But not all Black women are on board
LA TimesMembers of the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha cheer Vice President Kamala Harris as she speaks at the group’s annual convention in Dallas on July 10. This year she decided she would vote early by mail and then not do “a darn thing.” But when Biden endorsed Harris on July 21, she got to work, plotting with other Black women to mobilize a rush of new volunteers to donate, staff phone banks, knock on doors, serve as poll workers or precinct captains. With school starting next month, the single mother of two said she had a more pressing question than who to vote for: “Am I going to pay my bills or am I gonna get my son some new uniforms?” An analysis of interviews with women voters published this month by KFF found that 14% of Black women who voted for Biden in 2020 said they did not plan to vote in the 2024 presidential race — and 8% said they would vote for Trump. Fewer than half of Black women voters aged 18 to 49 said they were “absolutely certain” they would vote. “It feels a clear path to victory.” Some Black women worry that their fellow Americans are not ready to elect a Black woman president to the nation’s highest office.