What black Democrats have to say about Kamala Harris’ candidacy

By now, you’ve probably heard the Democrats’ message loud and clear: This election is about unity.

The Today, explains The podcast team was in Chicago this week at the Democratic National Convention, and inside and outside the United Center grounds, there is an atmosphere of joy and relief among Democrats: They now believe they have a real chance of winning the White House in 2024, and the party’s most difficult issues are not a welcome topic of conversation.

After accepting her party’s nomination during the campaign earlier this week, Kamala Harris will appear in Chicago tonight to close out the convention, carrying the mantle of “renewed sense of hope” bestowed on her by Michelle Obama – and the rest of the Democratic Party.

But first Today, explains sat down with three black delegates so Harris could ask them about the toughest challenges – from Gaza policy to identity politics – facing Democrats in the next 11 weeks before Election Day.

All three said they would vote for Harris and see it as their job to support and defend Democratic Party policies. But we dug a little deeper into the party’s wounds and found that even the most staunch Democrats were willing to admit that black voters and nonvoters are no longer the safe bloc they were for decades, and that the Israel-Palestine conflict has created a troubling divide between the official party and young progressives.

Here’s what they had to say. You can hear more of the discussion here: Today, explained.

Opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza has waned this summer, but 48 percent of Americans still oppose it, according to a Gallup poll conducted in June. This week, thousands of protesters, mostly young people wearing keffiyeh scarves, waited in Chicago for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — or “Genocide Joe and Killer Kamala,” as they call it. On Monday, they gathered in Union Park and marched on a circuitous route outside the convention center to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel. On Thursday, they will march the same route before Harris delivers her acceptance speech.

This is a topical issue for many voters, but especially for people like Hala Ayala, who is of Lebanese descent.

Ayala points out that Harris had already called for an “immediate ceasefire” in March. She told us that she had met Harris and felt understood on the Gaza issue. “I took it as authentic, because that’s the way it is, and I took it as saying there’s more work to be done,” she said.

The Gaza issue is also a sensitive one for Gen Z politician Mo Jenkins. According to Pew, nearly 50 percent of Democrats or Democrat-leaning young adults under 30 say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis. That’s not always in line with party loyalty: The Biden administration just approved the sale of $20 billion worth of weapons to Israel over the next five years.

When her black voters complain to her that pro-Palestinian activists aren’t supporting a black presidential candidate or aren’t paying enough attention to the ignored wars in Sudan or Congo, Jenkins says she tells them she needs to insert herself into the system to bring about change.

When asked why she was leaving them out in the cold, she replied: “‘I’m not leaving you out in the cold… We’re going to end up in the Arctic if I don’t do the work necessary to make sure Donald Trump doesn’t become president.'”

Whether black voters will choose Harris as they have done for Democratic candidates in the past will only be clear after the election, but there has been much talk in recent months about the party’s waning support among black Americans.

Data supports the notion that the once-reliable Democratic bloc has splintered significantly since 2008, with increasing numbers of black potential voters saying they plan to vote for former President Donald Trump instead. This was certainly the case when Joe Biden was at the top of the ballot, and now, even with Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, a significant share of black voters still lean toward Trump.

According to Reuters/Ipsos polls, 70 percent of black voters surveyed in a hypothetical vote in July chose Harris over Trump. In May and June, only 59 percent voted for Biden. But Trump’s share of the vote among black voters also rose slightly, from 9 percent in May and June to 12 percent in July.

Ayala, the delegate from Woodbridge, Virginia, says the party is well aware of this shift in loyalties: “Yes, there has been a divide (between black men and women in politics). We have seen that. We cannot deny that.”

Jenkins said her black male voters in Houston often tell her they are voting for Trump “because he put a stimulus check in my hand.” She said she will remind them that their checks “were delivered late because he wanted his name on it. … I think there is a confusion about the political process.”

Her concern is whether she and other Democrats will be able to set the record straight and convince enough of these black voters interested in Trump before Election Day.

This has been a very identity- and social justice-focused campaign. That’s an area where Kamala Harris is comfortable, but it also raises the question for Democrats: Will the focus on identity help them win the White House in November?

Many analysts have called on Harris’ campaign to be open about her race and gender. We asked our panel about the 49-year-old white man in Michigan who has voted Democratic in the past and whose vote count is still unknown. Will Harris’s comments about her identity as a black and South Asian woman undermine her chances of winning his vote?

Stratton, the lieutenant governor of Illinois, was emphatic that the Democratic Party also needs to talk about economic issues that affect the entire middle class, to win over voters like him with discussions about “worker rights” and to make sure we stand with unions. There are a number of things we need to lay out when we talk about lowering gas prices and food prices and all these other things.

“These are things the average American wants to know.”

This story originally appeared in Today, explainsVox’s main daily newsletter. Sign up for future issues here.