VP Kamala Harris made a historic move Thursday, directly reaching out to Black male voters. She was interviewed by media personality Charlamagne tha God and “The Breakfast Club” in Detroit on October 16th. She also released a set of focused economic policies aimed at Black men which is available on the campaign website. Up until now, no national candidate has ever directly promoted policies that would help Black men. Previous candidates have dodged a direct appeal, fearing a backlash from White voters.
The direct appeal to Black men is a sign of how tight the election is and the changing sentiment among Harris supporters. Harris and Trump supporters are completely “locked in” with few persuadable voters left. Her core voters understand the need to appeal to Black male voters. She is calculating that she will gain more votes than she might lose.
States where electoral votes are contested are considered “swing states.” Either candidate can win all of a state’s electoral college votes. The US Census Bureau reports that Michigan has a Black population of 14%, Pennsylvania has 11%, Georgia (31%), and North Carolina is 21% Black.
All previous candidates, notably Obama, avoided economic policy proposals directly targeting Black voters, preferring language that was more neutral and broadly appealing. Obama frequently used more neutral language such as “I will be a President for all the people” or “There are no red states or blue states, there is only the United States of America.”
The new outreach is prompted by low support among Black men for VP Harris compared to Black women, Biden in 2020 and Obama in 2012. The NYT/Sienna poll reported a gap in support of Kamala Harris of 13% between Black men and Black women in the current election. The survey found that 20% of Black men said they would vote for President Trump. In 2020, Biden got 87% of the Black male vote and 92% of the total Black vote (Pew). Obama got 93% of the total Black vote in 2012 (Roper) and 87% of the Black male vote (Vox).
Harris Makes specific proposals to help Black Men
Let’s look at the proposals in more detail and how they might appeal to Black men. The policies were released under the title: “Vice President Harris Will Deliver for Black Men.” They cover one million forgivable loans to start a business, funding programs to help Black men get good jobs, legalizing marijuana, supporting Cryptocurrencies, and a national initiative on Black men’s health.
The biggest proposal aimed at Black men is to provide loans up to $20,000 dollars for Black Entrepreneurs and others who have faced historic barriers to starting a business. She would also increase the tax deduction for starting a new business to $50,000 dollars from $5,000.
Harris would legalize marijuana nationally. She would decriminalize marijuana use nationally and support Black entrepreneurs who want to open marijuana businesses. During the interview with Charlamagne tha God, she questioned her record of convicting Black men on marijuana charges as “fake news.”
Support Cryptocurrencies. Harris plans to improve the regulation of cryptocurrencies. She stated that 20% of Black people have used cryptocurrencies
The plan for Black men would support education, training, and apprenticeship programs. Harris would double the number of registered apprentices. She would eliminate degree requirements for Federal jobs.
There are a number of interesting economic plans that did not receive a lot of media coverage. These ideas are more broad-based but would help Black men, Black Americans, and the middle class.
Harris wants to encourage stock ownership in companies through Employee stock ownership plans and profit-sharing plans Reform and pressure the banking system to expand access to credit and reduce fees.
Support Black farmers. Harris would “scale up” programs to help Black farmers. She wants to cap medical debt as a percentage of income. She would fight bias in home appraisals and increase investments in HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions. She proposes to provide low-cost internet access.
Interview with Charlamagne tha God
During the interview with Charlamagne tha God, she discussed a number of these same economic plans. She was Interviewed by Charlamagne tha God on October 16th, 2024. A large part of the interview was spent contrasting her ideas with Presidents Trump’s. But she did talk about some of her economic plans.
During the interview, she handled questions about spending money overseas, reparations, and outreach to the Black church community. She discussed legalizing marijuana at the federal level
A large part of the interview was spent on home ownership and housing affordability. She discussed her plan for $25,000 in down payment assistance and support for community banks.
Harris said, “I also know in the context of history. Nobody got 40 acres and a mule. We have a history of a number of things including redlining, Detroit does it well. A history of for example, something that still exists that I’ve worked on to address, which is racial bias in home appraisals. We know homeownership is, Black families are 40% less likely to be homeowners than others. And that homeownership is one of the surest ways to build intergenerational wealth. Right?”
At one point in the interview, she noted she is not new to supporting the Black community’s economic goals. She said: “From the time we first came in, the American rescue plan, the work that we have done, the infrastructure bill, I mean, part of that is we made a decision that we were going to increase the number of federal contracts that go to historically underrepresented businesses. This was way before — this was years ago. So, this is not new work.”
Charlamagne noted that the economy has done better under Democrats.
Harris also mentioned that she would have Medicare cover the cost of home health care for seniors
Harris said the idea of reparations has to be studied. She said “I am running to be president of all Americans. That being said, I do have clear eyes about the disparities that exist and the context in which they exist: meaning history. So my agenda, while first of all, on the point of reparations, it has to be studied.” Harris closed the answer with a direct appeal to Black men. “This is something that is critically important is to see Black folks and in particular Black men as whole human beings.”
Harris said, “In comparing our two plans the net result is that our plans strengthened his plans will weaken the economy.” Harris said “Goldman Sachs, Moody’s, sixteen Nobel laureate economists have said her economic plan is better than President Trump’s. She noted that even the Wall Street Journal has reported favorably on the ideas. She said Donald Trump’s plans would accelerate inflation and cause a recession by the middle of next year.
The interview was very conversational and should have gone longer. Harris quickly closed by ridiculing Trump’s remarks on Detroit. She never got to sum up her programs to help Black men.
Summary
VP Harris’s new outreach to Black Men is historic. No national candidate has directly targeted Black male voters before. Hers plans cover many of the topics important to Black male voters.