philadelphia
CNN
—
Over the weekend, dozens of black motorcyclists rode through north and west Philadelphia with a simple message to black men: “Vote!”
The ride, a joint effort of Black Men Vote, Black Riders Vote and other local organizations, was held across the city to increase registration ahead of Monday’s deadline and increase turnout, especially before Election Day. It was one of several bipartisan events. Low-income areas where voter turnout tends to lag.
“Hopefully, when they see us riding bikes, they look up and see these black men and women on bikes and say, “If they vote… I hope you’ll think, ‘Maybe I should reconsider, if I can.'” Representative of AME church and bicycle group. “People don’t expect black bikers to talk about voting, but when we sit together and hang out, people talk about elections and talk about issues.”
Kamala Harris’ challenge is not winning in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1 and where residential streets are dotted with signs from the vice president’s campaign. The question is whether she will show up in enough numbers here and in other Democratic strongholds like Pittsburgh to soften former President Donald Trump’s support in rural areas of the state.
In recent days, the Harris campaign has increasingly focused on young black men. Last week, Harris announced an agenda for black men, highlighting parts of her platform that specifically benefit black men, and went on a media blitz that included The Shade Room and an interview with Charlamagne the God. Ta.
Elected officials and nonpartisan voter engagement groups are also focusing on young black men, fearing that a significant number of them will decide to stay home. The initiative focuses on not only highlighting the importance of voting, but also reducing barriers and misinformation about how to vote and who is eligible to vote.
Pushing back against apathy and misinformation
Some would-be voters are harder to reach than others.
The black bikers’ ride ended at West Philadelphia’s Container Village, an open-air shopping center where minority-owned small businesses operate out of converted shipping containers.
Tyjuan Harris of Custom Creations, a printing company downtown, heard the bikes coming in but didn’t know they were encouraging people to vote. The target audience was a 42-year-old man in Philadelphia, but the message probably didn’t resonate.
Tyjuan Harris told CNN he has no interest in following politics. He said the last time he voted was probably 20 years ago, when he voted for former Vice President Al Gore at his mother’s urging. He said he would never again make the “mistake” of being pressured to vote in an election he had not researched.
“I do my own thing and carve my own path,” Harris said. “America will remain America no matter who is in the White House.”
Joe Paul, executive director of Black Men Vote, said the organization positions voting not just as a matter of civic responsibility, but as a way to express one’s power and build community. However, combined with structural obstacles such as voter ID laws and voter roll deletions, there remains a sense of distrust in government and general disillusionment among the population.
Black Men Vote has been reaching out to voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania since January, and the group says it has registered more than 100,000 black men to vote. The organization focuses on reaching men where they are: on basketball courts, gyms, churches, and through radio and social media advertising. Black Men Vote also partners with barbers, training them to be voting ambassadors and discuss civic engagement with clients.
Paul rejected the idea by former President Barack Obama and others that some black men would reject Harris or sit out the race because of her gender.
“I don’t see or hear what’s being amplified out there, like black men won’t vote for Kamala Harris because she’s a woman, or that black men will vote for Trump more than Trump. “Kamala Harris, or a black man, would choose to vote for the couch and something else,” he said. “We’re going to see historic turnout among black men.”
Both parties will seek to expand their support in Philadelphia, especially among voters of lower propensity. Joe Biden won the state by 80,000 votes in 2020. According to CNN exit polls, 92% of black voters in the state supported the president, including 89% of black men and 94% of black women. In Philadelphia, where the population is 40% black, Biden won 81% of the vote.
Trump received 24,000 more votes in Philadelphia in 2020 than he did in 2016, but Biden also received more votes than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Overall, 66% of Philadelphia’s 1.1 million registered voters voted in 2020, the city’s highest turnout since 1984.
A Trump campaign official told CNN that the Trump campaign believes that the most likely candidates are those who are younger, less white, and less involved in politics than the general electorate. spoke. The campaign, backed by outside groups, seeks to capitalize on some voters’ dissatisfaction with the current direction of the economy and country and tie it to Ms. Harris.
And in a change from 2020, the Trump campaign gave voters options other than voting in person on Election Day.
“We call this demystifying the process for them,” said a Trump campaign official. “Find out where they fit in the electorate, why their voice matters, how they can actually vote, and how easy it is to do so with all the methods available to them. I’ll figure it out.”
In 2020, after the public was blocked from accessing satellite election offices where voters could register, request and submit mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day, President Trump said in a debate, “It’s bad in Philadelphia.” is happening,” he said. Officials blocked observers from entering the space because it is not a polling place and the Trump campaign has not yet approved poll watchers.
The Harris campaign has field offices aimed at reaching voters in majority-black neighborhoods like Germantown, relationships with surrogate mothers with deep community ties, and a presence in churches, barbershops and hair salons. He points out the superiority of ground battles within the city, such as support events. . The campaign hopes turnout in the city will match 2020 results.
“When you get into the mid-60s, it becomes very difficult for the other side to do the math,” said a senior adviser to the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania. “You can only gain so much by having conversations in places around town where you don’t normally have conversations.”
Many voter engagement efforts focus on structural hurdles that prevent people from voting, such as lack of information about voting rights and how to vote, lack of access to polling places, and policies such as voter ID laws and voter roll deletions. The focus is on reducing the
Philadelphia County, which covers the city, is also working to make voting easier. Although there is no in-person early voting in Pennsylvania, the city has designated 11 permanent satellite election offices. Several voter engagement events have been held outside election offices, including a recent block party headlined by Philadelphia DJ Jazzy Jeff.
“People believe they don’t count, and my message is very simple: self-empowerment that you still count, you still have power,” Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir said.
