WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, making her the first Black and South Asian woman to lead a major party’s slate. Her nomination has mobilized a powerful and loyal voting bloc within the Democratic Party: Black women.

Since President Joe Biden dropped out of the re-election race last month and nominated Harris as his running mate, her campaign has quickly garnered delegate votes, raised more than $300 million and mobilized the Democratic base. Black women are playing a key role in that rapid mobilization.

Political scientist Andra Gillespie of Emory University said in an interview with States Newsroom that Harris benefits not only from an influx of money but also from an army of volunteers.

Swing state campaign manager Dan Kanninen told reporters in late July that more than 360,000 volunteers had signed up to knock on doors, canvass and make phone calls.

“What we have seen in the last few weeks is an influx of resources that will enable Harris to launch the most effective mobilization campaign possible,” Gillespie said.

All of this is key to a competitive election campaign, Gillespie said, especially in the crucial state of Georgia.

In that state, the work of black women to encourage voter turnout and registration was credited with the state voting Democratic for Biden in 2020. The victory brought two Democratic U.S. senators to Congress, cementing a divided Senate in which Harris was the tie-breaking vote and in which a Democratic majority confirmed numerous federal judges for life — as well as the first black woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walters moved Georgia from a “leaningly Republican” ranking to a “tie” after Harris entered the presidential race, finding a one-percentage-point lead over her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump. By comparison, Biden trailed Trump by 2.5 percentage points in the Peach State.

Keneshia Grant, an associate professor of political science at Howard University in Washington, DC, said that when Biden announced his resignation on July 21 under pressure from party leadership after his disastrous debate performance, it was not immediately clear that Harris would be next in line. It took Biden just over 30 minutes to confirm her as his chosen successor.

In the days leading up to Biden’s announcement, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn urged the party to rally around Harris if Biden is no longer on the ballot. Clyburn played a crucial role in rallying black support for Biden in 2020 and remains a close Biden ally.

“We should do everything we can to support her, whether she’s second or at the top of the list,” he said of Harris.

Grant said black women – often referred to as the backbone of the Democratic Party – had signaled to the party’s top members that “passing over this black woman at this moment would not be tolerated.”

Within hours of Biden’s exit from the race, a Zoom call with #WinWithBlackWomen organizers attracted more than 90,000 participants and raised more than $1.3 million in support of Harris’ candidacy.

“For the (Democratic) Party, there may be no idea right now that a black woman will be president, but people obviously think and feel differently,” Grant said.

Influence of “Divine Nine”

As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first black fraternity founded at Howard University in 1908, Harris has an untapped resource in the “Divine Nine” – black Greek-letter organizations consisting of four sororities and five fraternities.

Deborah Elizabeth Whaley, a professor of African-American studies at the University of Iowa, said black sororities and fraternities were more than a social group, adding that they were at the forefront of civil rights issues such as the women’s suffrage movement and anti-lynching legislation.

“The basic idea is that you come together in the name of service to help black communities while maintaining academic excellence,” Whaley said.

As soon as Harris entered the race as the frontrunner, the Divine Nine, which has more than two million members, sprang into action.

“One of the things that black sororities and fraternities are known for is voter registration,” Whaley said.

The National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. – the governing body of the Divine Nine – announced it would launch a major voter mobilization campaign. Because the groups are nonprofit organizations, they are not allowed to endorse any candidate and must remain nonpartisan.

“This campaign will activate the thousands of branches and members of our respective organizations to ensure high voter turnout in the communities we serve,” said a statement from the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc.

According to ProPublica’s Federal Election Commission tracker, Harris’ sorority AKA formed its own political action committee on August 9.

Whaley said she was not surprised that Harris had prioritized the inclusion of black sororities, such as when she attended the Zeta Phi Beta sorority conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, in late July, when she was expected to run as the Democratic presidential candidate.

“We know that when we organize, we move mountains,” Harris told more than 6,000 sorority sisters. “When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”

Whaley said black sororities are a “training ground for serving the community, being a leader and functioning successfully in a world where you are a member of a highly marginalized group and a gender minority.”

A different melody

During Harris’ first visit to campaign headquarters in Delaware, she played the song “Freedom” by Beyoncé before giving a speech to staff.

It’s a song that’s played at all of her campaign appearances, and according to CNN, Beyoncé has given the campaign permission to use the 2016 song from her Grammy-nominated album “Lemonade.”

Grant pointed out that the choice of this particular Beyoncé song not only signals to voters that Harris, at 59, is a younger candidate – compared to the 78-year-old Trump – but also a departure from former First Lady Michelle Obama’s slogan at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: “When they go low, we rise high.”

“From what I see on the campaign trail and from her attitude, she’s not saying, ‘If you sink low, I’ll sink low,’ she’s saying, ‘If you sink low, at least we’ll call you out,'” Grant said.

Kinitra Brooks, associate professor and holder of the Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in Literature in the English Department at Michigan State University, was also impressed by the song selection.

Brooks, co-editor of a collection of essays on Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” said the song is not just about breaking chains but about “the price of freedom.”

“It’s hard work to gain freedom, but it’s hard work to maintain it,” she said. “I think that leads to the conversations we’re having about restricting rights.”

Harris embarked on a rapid campaign tour through the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. She positioned her campaign as a “fight for the future” and accused the Trump campaign team of focusing too much on the past.
“Across the country, we are witnessing a comprehensive assault on hard-won freedoms and basic rights,” Harris said at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 10. “We will not go back.”