Vice President Kamala Harris Monday ramped up efforts to hold onto the waning support of Black male voters, announcing a “comprehensive push” to engage them with a new agenda that includes legalizing recreational marijuana and regulating Bitcoin and other digital currency.
The election is less than three weeks away and Ms. Harris, the first major-party Black female presidential nominee, has seen an alarming abandonment of Black male voters who are backing former President Donald Trump in historic numbers.
She has the support of about 78% of Black voters, down from President Biden’s 92% of Black support in 2020, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll.
To counter the drift toward Mr. Trump, Ms. Harris announced a five-part agenda that, according to her campaign, is “focused on equipping Black men with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families and protect their rights.”
Ms. Harris promised to legalize marijuana nationally and sign legislation to ensure Black men, whom she said have been “over-policed” regarding the drug, “are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market.”
She also promised 1 million “fully forgivable” loans of up to $20,000 for Blacks and others to start businesses, and is pledging new investments in programs to increase the number of Black, male teachers and apprenticeship opportunities for jobs in “highly paid, sought-after professions.”
She also pitched creating “a regulatory framework” for cryptocurrency and other digital financial tools, aimed at the more than 20% of Blacks whom she said own or have owned cryptocurrency.
Campaign co-Chairman Cedric Richmond said the plan would help Black men buy homes, provide for their families, start businesses and build wealth. Mr. Trump, he said, is a racist who “put Black men down for his own personal brand,” and if elected, would raise costs for Black families, eliminate Obamacare and grant immunity to police who engage in brutality against Black men.
“While Vice President Harris is promising to equip Black men with the tools needed to pursue our dreams and aspirations, Donald Trump is promising Black in America a national nightmare,” he said.
The Harris-Walz rollout follows poll numbers showing Mr. Trump has attracted more support among Black voters, in particular Black men, than any Republican since 1960.
The former president also has increased the backing of Hispanic voters, a smaller but growing subset who have traditionally backed Democrats.
Much of their support is connected to Mr. Trump’s pledge to revive the economy and lower costs that have skyrocketed under the Biden administration.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio said “20% of Latinos and 26% of Black voters rate the economy good or excellent, but the Democrats go around hectoring them that anyone who doesn’t vote for Kamala is a sexist. President Trump is winning because he’s listening to voters instead of lecturing them.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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