Biden focuses on Black voter outreach at WH and on campaign trail
- Black voter base was critical component in Biden's 2020 win
- Recent polling shows Trump gaining some of Biden's support in base
- Biden to campaign in 2 battleground states to target Black base
FILE – President Joe Biden addresses UAW members during a campaign stop, Feb. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. Former President Donald Trump is urging Republicans in Michigan to target Black voters in Detroit and other predominantly African American areas in the swing state, state GOP leaders said Monday, March 25. Both Biden and Trump will hotly contest Michigan, a state that flipped Democratic in 2020 and is widely seen as critical to both candidates’ chances in November. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (NewsNation) — President Joe Biden is working to bolster his support among Black voters by placing a renewed focus on the community that helped propel him to the White House in 2020.
Through a series of engagements, the president has been looking to “honor the legacy of those who paved the way for progress and hard-fought rights for Black Americans,” a White House spokesperson told NewsNation, adding that he will “highlight his vision for how we must continue to build on these freedoms.”
Among these events, Biden commemorated the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education — the historic Supreme Court case that ended racial segregation at public schools — by meeting with the plaintiffs and their families at the White House on Thursday. He will also deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, one of the most well-known historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), on Sunday.
The White House also announced an unprecedented $16 billion investment for HBCUs.
This all comes at a pivotal time for Biden’s reelection efforts as support is dropping among Black voters. In 2020, Biden won the Black vote by a 92-8 margin. However, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of battleground states released this week, Trump would win more than 20% of Black voters in a hypothetical rematch against Biden.
In a new memo shared with NewsNation, the Biden-Harris campaign underscored the Black voter outreach from its perspective.
“Since day one, the Biden-Harris campaign has been authentic and consistent in our efforts to reach Black voters and ensure they are aware that no other administration in modern history has delivered for Black America in the way Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have,” said Trey Baker, Biden-Harris 2024 senior adviser.
The memo stated that the events over the next few days were a “continuation” of the work to meet Black voters “where they are.”
On Friday, Biden delivered remarks at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, followed by a meeting in the Oval Office with the leaders of the Divine Nine, historically Black sororities and fraternities.
“My predecessor and his extreme MAGA friends are now going after diversity, equity and inclusion all across America,” Biden said, using the speech to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump. “They want a country for some, not for all.”
The president will travel to two crucial swing states Sunday — Georgia and Michigan — with a focus on engaging with Black voters. First, he’ll deliver the commencement address at Morehouse in Atlanta and will then travel to Detroit to speak at an NAACP Fight for Freedom dinner and visit a Black-owned small business.
The campaign says Black-owned small businesses have been “critical to the Biden-Harris organizing strategy.”
The Biden-Harris campaign noted that they are not taking “a single voter for granted.”
“We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote,” Baker said in his memo. “Every day, from now until election day, we will continue working diligently to ensure that come November, Black voters send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House to continue delivering for Black America in unprecedented ways.”