The Democrat nominee’s agenda includes forgivable business loans for black entrepreneurs, more apprenticeships, and research into sickle cell disease.
Vice President Kamala Harris is making a pitch to black men ahead of her rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 14 as her polling numbers lag in that key voting bloc.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s “opportunity agenda for black men” includes 1 million forgivable business loans of up to $20,000 each for black entrepreneurs, more apprenticeships, and research into sickle cell disease and other illnesses that disproportionately affect African American men.
The loans would be in partnership with the Small Business Administration and community leaders and banks “with a proven commitment to their communities,” according to the Harris campaign.
She’s also calling for black male participation in the “national cannabis industry” after previously voicing support for federal cannabis legalization, as well as regulating cryptocurrency to protect black men and others who use the digital tender.
Harris hopes to energize black men ahead of Election Day, as some polls indicate that she faces problems with a voting bloc that was essential to former President Barack Obama’s wins in 2008 and 2012.
A recent survey from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) indicates that 63 percent of black voters support Harris, while 13 percent favor former President Donald Trump.
Factoring in gender, the survey shows that 67 percent of black women support Harris, while 49 percent of black men under 50 back her, while 26 percent favor Trump.
President Joe Biden earned 92 percent of the black vote in 2020 after Obama received 95 percent in 2008.
Ahead of a rally in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, Obama visited a “Black Voters for Harris” event and made a plea to that demographic.
“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said, adding that the lack of enthusiasm seemed to be pronounced among black men.
Ahead of Harris’s Erie rally on Oct. 14, the vice president will visit a black-owned small business as part of her efforts to mobilize voters just weeks before Election Day.
She’s also reaching out to Hispanic voting blocs with “Hombres con Harris,” Spanish for “Men with Harris.” Her “Black Men Huddle Up” events in key battleground states include African American male celebrities and watch parties for college and professional football games.
The campaign also plans to run ads in swing states that include local black male figures.
Harris aims to create an economy “where black men are equipped with the tools to thrive, to buy a home, provide for our families, start a business and build wealth,” said Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign and former black Louisiana congressman.
Trump also has sought to reach black and Hispanic voters of both genders, hosting roundtables with black entrepreneurs in battleground states and participating in a Univision town hall this week. The former president has suggested repeatedly that people crossing the southern border illegally are taking jobs from Hispanic and black American workers.
The Epoch Times contacted the Trump campaign for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Included in Harris’s new proposals are federal incentives to provide teacher training opportunities for black men, pointing to statistics that show this demographic made up only 1 percent of the country’s public school teachers in 2020–2021, according to the National Teacher and Principal Survey data.
The vice president is promising to build on federal programs that forgive certain educational loans in exchange for public service to increase the ranks of black male teachers. Organizations such as the National Urban League, local governments, and the private sector would facilitate apprenticeships and credentialing opportunities in black communities.
She said she would also support a cryptocurrency regulatory framework and a national initiative to fund research and prevention of sickle cell disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, mental illnesses, and other health problems that affect black men disproportionately.
Even though her support in this voting bloc has slipped in recent polls, a survey conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs and Research in mid-September found that about seven in 10 black voters have a somewhat or very favorable view of the vice president, with few differences between genders and age groups.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.