How worried should Biden be about Black voters?
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The Big Story
How worried should Biden be about Black voters?
President Biden is making a major push for Black voters amid signs that his support among the critical bloc is slipping.
© AP Photo/Serkan Gurbuz
The campaign just launched Black Voters for Biden–Harris, a mobilization push as the president reels toward a competitive November rematch with former President Trump.
It’s an eight-figure investment with plans to ramp up outreach to Black voters, engage with Black-owned media and send surrogates out to engage with the demographic in a summer push for what principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks called “the backbone of the Biden-Harris coalition — Black voters.”
The Biden-Harris campaign also rolled out a pair of TV and radio ads earlier this month that took aim at Trump over his rhetoric about Black Americans and his claims about his record with the group.
Yesterday, the incumbent wooed Black voters in Philadelphia, crediting the demographic with helping him into the White House and urging them to do so again in November, The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports.
“I’ve shown you who I am and Trump has shown you who he is, and today Donald Trump is pandering and peddling lies and stereotypes for your vote so he can win for himself, not for you,” Biden said in Philadelphia at Girard College, a majority Black school. “Well, Donald Trump, I have a message for you: Not in our house, and not on our watch.”
Biden has touted his investments in historically Black colleges and universities, student debt forgiveness and infrastructure projects along the campaign trail as he seeks to frame his administration in stark contrast against his predecessor.
The upped outreach efforts come as polling signals problems for Biden among Black voters, and concerns about Black voter turnout come November. A Pew Research report earlier this month found the incumbent easily leading Trump among Black voters, but the 77 percent who said they prefer Biden is lower than the 92 percent logged in 2020 — and that shift could be pivotal in a close race.
Across the aisle, Trump has controversially contended that “the Black people like me” and argued that his criminal indictments helped his appeal to the bloc.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who has emerged as a top Trump surrogate after dropping out of the GOP primary race against the former president, slammed one of the new Biden ads, calling it “insulting” and arguing the Black community is “better off” under Trump
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The Countdown
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In Other News
Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Around the Nation
Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:
How Ken Paxton is stretching the boundaries of consumer protection laws to pursue political targets (Texas Tribune)
Vice President Kamala Harris to address U.S. Air Force Academy graduates in Colorado (Denver Post)
What We’re Reading
Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
Biden not banking on a Trump conviction to win (Axios)
Most House Republicans who backed Trump challengers cruised to primary victories (Washington Post)
Elsewhere Today
Key stories on The Hill right now:
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that the National Rifle Association (NRA) can move forward in its free speech fight against a former New York regulator. Authored by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the ruling revives the gun-rights group’s First Amendment claim against Maria Vullo, who formerly ran the New York Department … Read more
Democrats are warning against a full-blown meltdown over polls showing President Biden behind former President Trump and the party in danger of losing its Senate majority. Anxiety among Democrats is at a high-water mark, but leaders are used to it. Every cycle comes with severe bouts of tortured hand-wringing, including the 2022 midterms, … Read more
What People Think
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