Kamala Harris spent Sunday with a single goal: Philadelphia.
The decision to dedicate the entire day to Pennsylvania’s largest city, nine days before Election Day, underscored the heavily Democratic city’s importance to the vice president — and also a central challenge for her campaign: if she can keep up turnout among black and Latino voters, she will lose the state and her best path to the White House.
Philadelphia is almost 40 percent black and 15 percent Hispanic. President Joe Biden won 81 percent of the vote there in 2020, and with more than 10 percent of the vote statewide, it is a crucial part of the Blue Wall that Harris is trying to maintain to defeat Donald Trump.
But recent polls warn of a teetering Democratic coalition, with Trump cutting into Harris’ margins among black and Latino men — a trend that is alarming Democrats in Pennsylvania and across the country, who fear it could cost them the White House.
Well aware of the challenges she faces, Harris on Sunday launched a full-court press for black and Latino votes in Philadelphia, returning to some of the key retail politics issues she has recently shunned in favor of mega-rallies amid increasing security concerns for both campaigns. . From the pulpit of a predominantly black church to a barbershop chair and a Puerto Rican restaurant, Harris warned black and Latino voters that Trump is “full of resentment” and argued that a second Trump presidency would harm them and their families.
“This election is about two very different visions for our nation,” Harris told a crowd in the city on Sunday evening. “One, Donald Trump, who is focused on the past and on himself… We are focused on the future.”
Philadelphia could be even more important to Harris’ victory than it has been for Democrats in the past, former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa), who represented the Lehigh Valley north of the city, said in an interview.
While Harris has a strong chance of doing better in Philadelphia’s affluent, suburban counties than Biden did in 2020, some Democrats worry that she also won’t be able to meet standards in much of the rest of the state Biden – especially in predominantly white states. working-class neighborhoods.
“Kamala Harris just needs tremendous plurality coming out of the Philadelphia region,” Dent said. “Black and Latino men in Philadelphia are essential to her,” he added.
That’s why any derailment between key Democratic-leaning groups in Philadelphia could be so damaging.
“Kamala Harris has had an authentic conversation with Black and brown men throughout this campaign,” said Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, a 35-year-old Democrat and the first Black lieutenant governor in the state’s history.
“She listened to them. She has made proposals to improve their lives and the lives of their families,” Davis added in an interview. “And she doesn’t take anything for granted, which is why you see her spending so much time courting those voters in the final days of the campaign.”
But for all the Democrats’ dominance of the Philadelphia market in the recent election, Harris is facing headwinds after high grocery prices and inflation hit voters there harder than in most other parts of the country. That increases her challenge to win over more young black and Latino men in particular, who polls show are concerned about the economy and may be willing to break for Trump.
At a West Philadelphia barbershop, Harris attempted to address these concerns head-on during a conversation with young black men led by state Rep. Jordan Harris. One participant brought up the burden of student debt and other challenges for young people trying to get ahead, while Harris nodded. Another voter said he was an educator, and Harris responded by emphasizing the importance of Black teachers in the classroom.
“You know the statistics are: If a black child has a black teacher, by the end of third grade he or she is 13 percent more likely to go to college,” Harris said. “If they had two black teachers in third grade, the odds are about 30 percent higher.”
Harris later told a youth basketball group at a nearby gym that they were “role models” and that she was “proud” of them. “I like to say, ‘Chin up, shoulders back, always,’” she added, after several students said they had lost a recent competition.
During a stop at Freddy & Tony’s, a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philadelphia, Harris then also touted her recently announced plans for what she described as “a task force for Puerto Rico,” if elected. She also crossed out her plans to help families “build intergenerational wealth” by boosting her plans to boost federal aid for homeownership and small businesses.
“The goal is of course to win. But the goal is to also build community and build coalitions in this process,” Harris said, “and to remind people that we are all in this together.” More than 1 million Pennslyvans have already voted early by mail. But a majority of voters are expected to cast their ballots on Election Day. Some Democrats in Pennsylvania have also raised alarms about problems within the Harris campaign’s organization in the state, especially among black and Latino voters in Philadelphia.
Throughout Sunday, Harris continuously invoked Trump as he prepared for a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Most notably, the vice president, who has been more careful in recent months about limiting interactions with the press, briefly spoke to reporters for a short period of time to warn voters that the former president is “full of dark language that goes about retaliation and revenge. .”
“And so the American people have a choice. It’s either going to be that or I’m going to be there, focused on my to-do list,” Harris said, adding that Trump is “talking about America being the garbage bin of the world.” She added: “The momentum is with us.”
In another split-screen moment, around the same time Harris spoke at the Puerto Rican restaurant, pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called the island “a floating island of trash” while speaking at Trump’s rally in New York. Harris officials noted in response that swing states like Pennsylvania have a sizable Puerto Rican population, which could decide the election.
Harris, who was specifically asked by reporters if she believes her campaign will have the amount of support among black voters she needs to win the state, said she was “very optimistic about the enthusiasm here and the commitment of people from any background. .”
Harris, as she has done in recent days, has made abortion a key part of her closing message to attack Trump, telling CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday that she will make codification Roe v. Wade her “first priority” through legislation if elected. However, she again declined to say whether she would support any restrictions on abortion as part of a bill.
Harris’ comments follow former first lady Michelle Obama in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in Catholic-heavy Scranton, Pennsylvania, putting abortion rights at the center of their closing message to men in recent days . The pair made an impassioned plea to men who may be inclined to support Trump that the lives of the women they love are at stake if he is elected.
If Harris loses Pennsylvania, she will have an incredibly narrow path to the White House. Biden will travel to the city next Friday to tout his administration’s “historic support for labor unions,” the White House said. The move is a clear attempt to boost Harris in the city after several high-profile criticisms from male-dominated unions. The local chapter of the firefighters union in Philadelphia was a key faction that urged International Fire Fighters Association leadership to deny Harris the group’s coveted endorsement.
Harris himself acknowledged the city’s importance as an electoral firewall during a visit to a local African-American-themed bookstore owned by Ann Hughes, mother of Sen. Vincent Hughes, as Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker looked on.
“We’re going to do it. The win comes via Philly. It runs through Pennsylvania,” Harris said.
