Black women spearhead extraordinary outreach efforts for Kamala Harris, extending from Oprah's livestreams to intimate house gatherings.
"I was genuinely overwhelmed, striking a chord that can only be equated to a profound sense of ancestral pride," stated Thompson, hailing from Birmingham, Alabama. But, just as swiftly as this emotion took hold, a realization set in. "You know what, God, there's work to be done," she acknowledged.
Across the nation, Harris' groundbreaking campaign has instigated a wave of activism among Black women such as Thompson, who have traditionally been a vital demographic within the Democratic party. On Thursday night, Oprah Winfrey in conjunction with Win With Black Women, will host a large-scale, online rally, with the objective of uniting Harris' supporters and mobilizing them to vote. Harris is expected to participate.
Over 40,000 people have already expressed interest in the "Unite for America" livestream, due to take place across various platforms, including YouTube and Twitch, according to the organizers. The event commences at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, and marks the culmination of a Zoom meeting organized by Win With Black Women within hours of Biden ending his reelection bid on July 21st.
This event rapidly amassed a participation of over 90,000 attendees – including those on Zoom as well as those watching from other platforms – signaling a robust show of support for Harris' historical endeavor.
"This election is undeniably a momentous one," remarked Jotaka Eaddy, founder of Win With Black Women, to CNN.
Organizations championed by Black women are also spearheading new political initiatives to aid Harris. Alpha Kappa Alpha, the historically Black sorority that Harris affiliated with during her time at Howard University, recently established its first political action committee. Delta Sigma Theta, another Black sorority, is initiating its inaugural advertising campaign to mobilize voters, with ads running through September. Meanwhile, the National Council of Negro Women, in alliance with its member chapters and numerous affiliated organizations, such as Black youth organization Jack and Jill of America, is spearheading a drive to register Black women and young voters between the ages of 17 and 24.
"The sentiment is more potent when someone resembling myself is at the helm of the Democratic ticket," shared Daria Dawson, executive director of voter mobilization group America Votes and the first African American woman to head the organization. "There's a revitalized sense of urgency."
Hillary Holley, a proponent of Stacey Abrams' unsuccessful attempts to become Georgia's first Black and first female governor, now heads Care in Action – the political arm of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Harris' rise to the pinnacle of the Democratic ticket has significantly influenced the outlook of grassroots activists and the patrons who support their endeavors, according to Holley.
Before Biden's departure from the race, Holley, based in Georgia, had extended invitations to a gathering in Atlanta on August 8th to reinvigorate contributors, highlighting the election's importance even if they demonstrated less enthusiasm for Biden's campaign.
But following Harris' ascension as the party's standard-bearer, interest in the event spiraled, according to Holley – with almost all the 80 attendees, primarily Black women, eager to contribute more.
"These Black women have been shouldering the burden of engaging Democrats in elections to safeguard our communities for years, decades, and numerous election cycles," Holley said. "Now, we obtain the best of both worlds – we support a woman intimately familiar with our struggles. We've been awaiting this opportunity."
Holley's group's budget has expanded to a staggering $15 million – up from the initial budget of approximately $9 million, she mentioned. Care in Action now intends to reach out to 6.8 million voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina, with the objective of mobilizing women of color who are already registered to vote but often choose to abstain from elections.
However, Holley and other activists underscore the fact that their discourse transcends Harris' identity. The representatives of Care in Action – comprising nannies, house cleaners, and other care workers – will emphasize "financial autonomy" and link Harris' economic proposals to sway voters in the weeks ahead, Holley said.
Black women represent one of the most dependable Democratic voting blocs, with 90% of them backing Biden in 2020, as per exit polls. Their support for the Democratic presidential nominee skyrocketed to 96% in 2012, during Obama's final term on the ballot.
"The secret sauce of Black women is that it's not just us, but how we inspire and sway others," said seasoned activist Melanie Campbell, chair of the Power of the Ballot Action Fund. "We mobilize men, our sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and so on."
Back in 2020, Campbell was part of the chorus of Black women urging Biden to select a female African American running mate. She was also among those calling on Biden to remain in the race following his lackluster performance in the June 27 debate.
Campbell feared that Democrats might overlook the vice president following his departure, she said. The message from Black women was clear: "No, she secured the 14 million votes he did," Campbell declared. "It was Biden-Harris."
"Dark-skinned ladies were drawing crowds," he remarked.
The Win With Black Women event on July 21 managed to raise an impressive $1.5 million within a span of approximately three hours, as per Eaddy, the group's founder. Presently, $20 million has been gathered by a variety of grassroots groups helping Harris' campaign. Some of these organizations, such as White Dudes for Harris, Win With Black Men, and Swifties for Kamala, were given the invitation to join the virtual rally with Harris and Winfrey on Thursday.
Battleground North Carolina
In North Carolina, a state that Trump won by around 74,000 votes out of a whopping 5.4 million votes cast in 2020, Black women-led groups are working tirelessly to expand the electorate. Black residents account for roughly 21% of the state's population, and North Carolina is home to several Historically Black College and Universities.
Thompson, an activist from Alabama, is the founder of Woke Vote. In 2017, this organization played a significant role in electing Doug Jones as Alabama's first Democratic US senator in 25 years. This election, Thompson's efforts primarily focus on a handful of crucial states, such as North Carolina and Georgia, where Biden managed to clinch victory by a small margin of less than 12,000 votes in 2020.
North Carolina represented Trump's closest win by a margin four years ago, and Harris is attempting to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Obama in 2008. Thompson, who worked on Obama's 2008 campaign in North Carolina, is dedicated to encouraging rural Black voters in the eastern part of the state, often overlooked by traditional outreach efforts.
Black female organizers in the state also reach out to diverse groups beyond Black women.
Janice Robinson, the North Carolina program director of Red Wine & Blue, an organization that engages in "relational" organizing, encourages diverse groups of suburban women to rally their friends, neighbors, and relatives for Harris and other Democrats in the Tar Heel State.
At a recent house party in the Charlotte area, about a dozen people – primarily White women – gathered with Robinson to strategize over coffee, pastries, and orange juice. She guided them through a tool to share election-related information with other North Carolinians in their contact lists.
"People listen to the people they trust," she emphasized.
Her target is to get 40,000 voters to the polls in North Carolina.
The North Carolina chapter of America Votes, on the other hand, is collaborating with various other organizations to reach 4 million voters in the state – a record expansion of their outreach in previous elections, claimed Ashlei Blue, the group's state director.
Deputy director Nervahna Crew, a veteran of several presidential elections in North Carolina, including 2016, spent countless hours door-knocking and distributing campaign literature for Hillary Clinton. The cyst on her right foot was a result of her dedication during that election. Crew worked "overtime" in that election, partly in honor of her grandmother Mary Starkey, a staunch Democratic activist from Delaware who passed away in 2015, dreaming of casting her vote to elect Clinton as the nation's first female president.
This election cycle, Crew's nonpartisan day job keeps her mainly focused on voter turnout rather than working directly for a candidate. However, her commitment to making history in the presidential election remains undiminished, she said.
"At the end of the day, you won't attribute the failure to Black women for not doing their part," she declared. "If we're not successful this time around, it won't be because we didn't give our all."
After seeing Harris' groundbreaking campaign and her impact on Black women, Thompson acknowledged, "The politics surrounding this election are more significant than ever before." On the eve of the "Unite for America" rally, Thompson expressed, "I can't wait to contribute to Harris' political journey, knowing that our voices are making a difference in the political landscape."
