The New York Times reports that nonpartisan national organization Black Voters Matter announced its plan to spend $15 million on campaign efforts to ignite voter engagement in close to 12 battleground states.
The group, which focuses on mobilizing Black voters, says the campaign will include radio advertisements, bus tours in battleground state cities and HBCUs, and a robust canvassing operation targeting an increase in Black turnout at the polls in swing states and the Deep South.
As both presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, are zoning in on the best ways to engage with Black voters, a key constituency, group Co-Founder and Executive Director Cliff Albright says the seven weeks before Election Day are critical to voter engagement. “When we say that this is the most important election of a lifetime, oftentimes it’s overused in previous years,” he said.
“But in some very, very real and concrete ways, that is the case this election year.”
Albright and his Co-Founder, LaTosha Brown, have been outspoken about the severity of the 2024 political cycle from the beginning. In July 2024, according to MSNBC, the founders released a statement in shock at President Joe Biden being encouraged to drop out of the race following his debate performance.
They accused liberals of formulating a plan to oust Biden, which would result in undermining the democratic process and overruling Black primary voters.
However, their feelings haven’t stopped Black Voters Matter from focusing on not just engaging voters but also helping them to engage with each other and having conversations about important issues. Some of their programming targets Black men, who polls show are issuing heavy support toward Trump despite the candidate’s hateful rhetoric against them. While the majority are supporting Harris, Trump has not paused his effort to garner support from Black men, resulting in close race margins.
By working with the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, a resource that provides civic engagement training to residents of predominantly Black and low-income communities, Albright’s group aims to educate voters about what’s really at stake on Election Day, given the attacks on certain demographics. In the days gearing up toward the election, Republicans, led by GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, have created anti-immigrant rhetoric aimed at the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.
For days, the city has suffered from bomb threats as Vance, Ohio’s state senator, and Trump continue to push false narratives of Haitian residents eating pets.
The group also hopes to encourage voters to complete mail-in ballots during early voting periods in October 2024, sponsor billboards in battleground states, and coordinate running text and phone banks.
Engagement started in August, and teaming up with influential organizing resources such as the Divine Nine and the Black church, it will enter the next phase of its push with a concert series that will begin in Atlanta at the end of September.
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