WASHINGTON (AP) — A ballot question to enshrine Nevada’s abortion rights in the state constitution received its first nod of approval from voters. Voters must also approve the ballot question in 2026 in order to amend the state constitution. The political action committee Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom organized the ballot initiative and gathered enough signatures to put the question before voters. Although a 1990 state law makes abortion available up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, supporters in Nevada and elsewhere have been pressing to strengthen abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The Associated Press declared that the question was approved at 3:21 a.m. EST Wednesday.
الوسم: rights
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AP Race Call: Missouri voters approve constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights
WASHINGTON (AP) — Missouri voters approved a measure on Tuesday that enshrines abortion rights in the state constitution and replaces a near-total ban on the procedure. The measure guarantees a person’s right to get an abortion and make other reproductive health decisions. It opens the door to legal challenges of a ban on most abortions that took effect immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The measure made the ballot after an intense legal fight led by anti-abortion advocates who sought to prevent a vote.
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In Harris’s home of California, voters weigh economy, reproductive rights | US Election 2024 News
San Francisco, California – Under a gold-leaf dome in downtown San Francisco, the usual procession of wedding parties tiptoed out of City Hall with freshly minted marriage licences.
But there was a rival line stretching down the steps for a different reason: Californians had arrived in droves to participate in the pivotal 2024 United States election.
This year’s presidential race was rich with symbolism for the San Francisco Bay Area. One of the two major candidates, Democrat and Vice President Kamala Harris, considers the Bay Area home.
She was born in nearby Oakland. Raised in neighbouring Berkeley. And in San Francisco, she built a reputation as a prosecutor that saw her rocket up the political ladder.
First, she was elected the city’s district attorney, serving in City Hall from 2002 to 2011, steps away from the law school where she received her degree.
Later, she became the state’s attorney general and then its senator in the US Congress.
California is known as a Democratic stronghold, part of the “blue wall” of states that consistently vote for the party.
And as the most populous state in the country, California boasts a whopping 54 Electoral College votes. Al Jazeera spoke to voters outside City Hall on Tuesday to understand what was motivating their votes this election cycle.
Anjali Rimi campaigned on election day to support incumbent Mayor London Breed [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] Anjali Rimi, social service worker
Standing in the shadow of City Hall’s towering 94-metre (307-foot) dome, Anjali Rimi was hoping to encourage other voters to re-elect Democratic Mayor London Breed to a second term in office.
But the wider general election likewise weighed heavily on Rimi’s mind.
“At all levels — federal, state and the city of San Francisco — what’s at stake is democracy,” Rimi told Al Jazeera.
“What’s at stake is the lives of immigrants. What’s at stake is the lives of minority-religion people, like myself, or many of my Muslim, Sikh, non-white, non-male, non-Christian folks who need to be protected in this country.
“What’s at stake is the fundamental rights of every human being in this world that sometimes we tend to not see right here in the United States of America. And hence, this election is historic on so many fronts.”
Rimi’s words echoed critics’ concerns about Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and former president known for nativist rhetoric.
When asked why certain voters in the US do not see those fundamental rights, Rimi was unequivocal.
“You have to give and attribute a lot of that to white supremacy. It may not look white always, but privilege and those that have a position continue to want to conquer and lead and brutalise this world, Rimi said.
“Hence, we don’t see the struggles of those that are at the margins — the many of us who have come to this country to make it our home and are just trying to live a happy and peaceful life with our families but still have a connection back to our homelands.”
She added that she hoped to “protect Black and woman leadership” this election cycle.
Melanie Mathewson wears a T-shirt that reads, ‘We are not going back’ [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] Melanie Mathewson, 26, political consultant
The decision to end the Supreme Court precedent Roe v Wade in 2022 was a prominent theme in this year’s presidential race.
On one hand, former President Trump campaigned on how his decisions while in office helped pave the way for the repeal of federal protections for abortion care.
“For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v Wade terminated. And I did it,” he said in January.
By contrast, Harris has campaigned on restoring access to reproductive healthcare. “When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” she told a campaign rally earlier this year.
That debate helped inspire Melanie Mathewson’s vote in the general election.
“What’s driving me on a federal level is women’s rights,” she said. “I would love to have children one day, and I want to make sure, no matter where I live or where they choose to live, they have access to whatever healthcare that they need for their bodies.”
She also gave a nod to the anti-transgender, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that has become a frequent topic in the Trump campaign.
“Whether I have children who are transgender or I have children who are gay, I want them to feel comfortable and protected no matter where they live in this country, not just in California,” Mathewson said.
“I’m also very concerned about my Black and Brown friends and my friends who have immigrant parents who are not citizens, who are just trying to make their way.”
Christian nationalism, she added, was helping to shape many of Trump’s policies.
“With the possibility of Christian nationalism becoming the way that we rule our country if Trump wins, I’m afraid that there is not going to be freedom of religion, freedom over our bodies,” she said.
Matt Fitzgerald and Maddie Dunn advocated for small businesses on Election Day [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] Maddie Dunn, 23, and Matt Fitzgerald, 28, campaigners
The shuttered storefronts that line downtown San Francisco were top of mind for Maddie Dunn and Matt Fitzgerald, who hoped Election Day would bring good news for small businesses.
They hoped that ballot initiatives in San Francisco would result in lower taxes and permitting fees for local companies.
The city’s population plummeted by nearly 65,000 residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and businesses took a punch as a result.
“San Francisco’s had the slowest COVID recovery in North America,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got a lot of problems here in our downtown, with empty office spaces, closing small businesses and things like that.”
Dunn explained that her father was a small business owner, and the downturn left her worried.
“This is an issue that you can really see day to day: How well is your corner store doing? Or your coffee shop? And in San Francisco, the answer is that businesses are recovering, but they’re still struggling from decreased foot traffic, really slow margins,” she said.
Both she and Fitzgerald, however, indicated that they would throw their support behind Harris, who has promised to boost start-ups, despite scepticism from the right.
“She understands how important small businesses are to our communities. And with her economic plan, when it comes down to it, she has the approval of experts,” Dunn said.
Fitzgerald, for his part, warned that Trump represented a threat to US democracy, pointing to his actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.
“I think the candidates could not be more different,” he said. “I mean, you have one candidate, our former president, who literally tried to overthrow our democracy on January 6th, and you have a candidate who is pro-democracy, who is pro-women’s rights and is pro-LGBTQ rights.”
This election, he added, will be “a huge fork in the road”.
Jennifer Fieber held up copies of the ‘Pissed Off Voter Guide’ on Election Day [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] Jennifer Fieber, 51, member of San Francisco Tenants Union
For decades, the San Francisco Bay Area has been in the grips of a housing crisis.
Housing prices are unaffordable for many residents. Rental costs have ticked up. And a January 2024 report from the city government estimated that homelessness affects at least 8,323 residents — a likely undercount. More than 20,000 sought assistance for homelessness over the course of a year.
Jennifer Fieber, a member of the San Francisco Tenants Union, pointed to the crisis as the main motivation for her vote. She indicated that she would be supporting progressive candidate Aaron Peskin in his race for mayor.
“Tenants are 64 percent of the city,” Fieber said. “I think if you stabilise their housing, it has a profound effect on the working class and the ability of people to live in the city. So we need candidates that are gonna protect tenants.”
She explained that high housing prices were forcing essential workers like nurses and teachers out of the city.
When asked which candidates had put forward platforms to address the issue, Fieber responded: “Actually, I think that they have been ignoring it to their detriment.”
That includes on the national scale, she added. “I support the Democrats, but they don’t really have a housing policy.”
Joshua Kelly hopes to ensure a local highway remains closed as the effects of climate change become more apparent [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] Joshua Kelly, 45, stay-at-home dad
For homemaker and stay-at-home dad Joshua Kelly, the roadway that lines San Francisco’s Pacific Coast was a motivation to get out the vote.
That four-lane road, known as the Great Highway, was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, to allow for outdoor recreation. Residents like Kelly hope it remains closed, particularly as the highway faces the ravages of climate change.
“Our plan [is] to turn a coastal highway that’s falling into the ocean into a park and promenade for the whole city,” Kelly said.
He argued that the stakes are bigger than just the fate of a road.
“What kind of a city do we want to be? Do we want to be a city that acknowledges and embraces climate change and plans for it?” Kelly asked. “Or do we want to be a city that prioritises polluting, climate-change-causing car travel and the convenience of that above everything else?”
He credited outgoing President Joe Biden with taking some steps to address the climate crisis.
“Joe Biden was able to, through the Inflation Reduction Act, create one of the biggest pieces of climate legislation. And we’re seeing a lot of renewable energy come out of that,” Kelly explained.
But he warned that continued activism would be necessary to keep the issue at the forefront of national policy, no matter the outcome on Tuesday.
“I think we’re part of a coalition that’s going to put pressure on Kamala Harris to do that if she is elected as well. And if Trump gets in, he’s going to push fossil fuels. He’s going to end subsidies for renewable energy. He’s going to send us backwards.”
Kelly also feared the violence Trump might spark if he refuses to accept a defeat at Harris’s hands.
“I am concerned about the potential for violence,” Kelly said. “If the election becomes sort of contested, there is a good chance that the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court would conspire to give the election to Trump, despite him losing the votes in the Electoral College.”
Voters cast their ballots outside San Francisco’s City Hall on November 5 [Allison Griner/Al Jazeera] -
Florida votes against amendment enshrining abortion rights into state constitution | US elections 2024
Florida voters defeated a measure to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, a devastating blow for advocates who had hoped to roll back the state’s six-week abortion ban and continue their now-broken streak of ballot-measure victories.
A total of 10 states voted on abortion-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday. Results are forthcoming in seven states, four of which could overturn post-Roe v Wade abortion bans and restore access. New York and Maryland passed ballot measures to expand their states’ protections for abortion and cement their status as abortion havens.
Given that abortion is one of the top issues in the 2024 election, Democrats had hoped these measures would boost turnout among their base. But while many of the outstanding measures appear on track to pass, including in swing states like Nevada and Arizona, polls suggest a chunk of voters are effectively splitting their votes by supporting both abortion rights and Republicans.
Out of all the abortion-related measures, the Florida initiative – known as amendment 4 – was long considered the most difficult to pass. Unlike other measures, which only require a simple majority – or, in the case of Colorado, 55% of the vote – to pass, the Florida measure needed to garner 60% of the vote. At the time it was called by the Associated Press, the Florida measure had amassed a clear majority, with 57% of the vote.
The Florida result is a bitter pill for abortion rights supporters, shattering a string of successes at the ballot box. Advocates have won abortion-related ballot measures in seven states since Roe was overturned.
After the US supreme court overturned Roe in 2022, Florida became a refuge for people fleeing the abortion bans that now blanket the rest of the US south, before its six-week ban took effect in May of this year.
Had the Florida measure passed on Tuesday, it would have protected the right to abortion up until fetal viability, or about 24 weeks into pregnancy.
In the weeks leading up to election day, Florida Republicans alarmed civil rights and voting rights groups by unleashing a wave of attacks on the measure. Law enforcement officials investigated people who signed a petition to get the measure onto the ballot, while the state’s agency for healthcare administration put up a webpage attacking the amendment. The health department also sent cease-and-desist letters to local TV stations that aired an advertisement supporting the measure, prompting the measure’s organizers to sue.
“Florida’s deadly abortion ban is out of line with the values of our state,” said Lauren Brenzel, manager of the campaign for the amendment, Yes on 4 Florida, in a statement. “Florida voters sent that message loud and clear today, and despite the fact that only a minority of voters voted to retain the abortion ban our extremist government will exploit the situation to deny its own constituents the right to decide on our bodily autonomy.”
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
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Ten states where abortion rights are on the ballot this election day | US elections 2024
Americans in 10 US states are voting on Tuesday on whether to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions.
In some states, like Arizona and Florida, they have the opportunity to overturn bans that state legislatures passed after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022, doing away with the federal right to an abortion. In others, like Colorado and New York, they are voting on whether to boost protections for the procedure and make them harder to roll back in the event conservatives take power. And in one state – Nebraska – two competing measures will ask voters to choose between enshrining an existing 12-week ban or replacing it with more expansive abortion protections.
Since Roe was overturned, seven states have held abortion-related ballot referendums, and abortion rights supporters have won all of them. The results of Tuesday’s measure will not be the final word; states that vote to overturn bans will see litigation or legislation before those bans are repealed. But taken together, the results will indicate how potent the issue remains after two years without Roe.
Results will begin rolling in after 8pm ET, when the final polls close in Florida, Missouri and Maryland. However, it could take days for a complete tally of all of the votes.
Arizona
Abortion rights supporters in Arizona, a key battleground state in the presidential election, are vying to pass a measure that would enshrine the right to abortion until fetal viability, or about 24 weeks, in the state constitution. Abortion is currently banned in the state after 15 weeks.
Colorado
Colorado’s measure, which needs to garner 55% of the vote, would amend the state constitution to block the state government from denying, impeding or discriminating against individuals’ “right to abortion”. There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state.
Florida
Florida’s measure would roll back the state’s six-week ban by adding the right to an abortion up until viability to the state’s constitution. It needs 60% of the vote to pass.
Maryland
Legislators, rather than citizens, initiated Maryland’s measure, which would amend the state constitution to confirm individuals’ “right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual’s pregnancy”. There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state.
Missouri
Voters will decide whether to overturn the state’s current, near-total abortion ban and establish a constitutional guarantee to the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom”, including abortion care until fetal viability.
Montana
Abortion in Montana is currently legal. If passed, the measure would amend the state constitution to explicitly include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion” up until fetal viability, or after viability to protect a patient’s life or health.
Nebraska
Nebraska is the lone state with two competing ballot measures. If both measures pass, the measure that garners the most votes would take effect.
The first would enshrine the right to abortion up until viability into the state constitution.
The second would enshrine the current 12-week ban.
Nevada
Nevada’s measure would amend the state constitution to protect the right to abortion up until viability, or after viability in cases where a patient’s health or life may be threatened.
New York
New York state legislators added a measure to the ballot to broaden the state’s anti-discrimination laws by adding, among other things, protections against discrimination on the basis of “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health”. It does not explicitly reference abortion, but advocates say its pregnancy-related language encompasses abortion protections. Abortion is protected in New York until fetal viability.
South Dakota
South Dakota’s measure is less sweeping than other abortion rights measures, because it would only protect the right to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. Although this measure will appear on the ballot, there will be a trial over the validity of the signatures that were collected for it. Depending out the outcome of the trial, the measure – and any votes cast for it – could be invalidated.
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Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ends federal abortion rights
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973.
The court’s controversial but expected ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Follow live coverage of reaction to abortion decision here
Almost half the states are expected to outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, which is related to a highly restrictive new Mississippi abortion law. The laws will affect tens of millions of people around the country, who may have to cross state lines to seek reproductive health care.
Other states plan to maintain more liberal rules governing the termination of pregnancies.
Supporters of abortion rights immediately condemned the ruling, while abortion opponents praised a decision they had long hoped for and worked to ensure. Protesters descended on the Supreme Court on Friday to speak out both for and against a decision that will upend decades of precedent in the U.S.
Read the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade here
Abortion opponents celebrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images
Justice Samuel Alito, as expected, wrote the majority opinion that tossed out Roe as well as a 1992 Supreme Court decision upholding abortion rights in a case known as Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Alito was joined in that judgment by four other conservatives on the high court. Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the majority to uphold the Mississippi abortion restrictions but did not approve of overturning Roe altogether.
The majority also included three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
The court’s three liberal justices filed a dissenting opinion to the ruling, which quickly drew protestors to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely — the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Alito wrote.
“That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition’ and ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,” he added.
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito wrote.
In their scathing joint dissent, the court’s liberal justices wrote, “The majority has overruled Roe and Casey for one and only one reason: because it has always despised them, and now it has the votes to discard them. The majority thereby substitutes a rule by judges for the rule of law.”
“The majority would allow States to ban abortion from conception onward because it does not think forced childbirth at all implicates a woman’s rights to equality and freedom,” said the dissent by Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
“Today’s Court, that is, does not think there is anything of constitutional significance attached to a woman’s control of her body and the path of her life,” it said. “A State can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs.”
In a concurring opinion with the majority ruling, the conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that in light of the rationale for overturning Roe, the Supreme Court should reconsider its rulings in three other past cases which established a right to use birth control, and which said there is a constitutional right for gay people to have sex and marry one another.
Friday’s bombshell decision came a day after the Supreme Court in another controversial ruling invalidated a century-old New York law that had made it very difficult for people to obtain a license to carry a gun outside of their homes.
Anti-abortion protestors march in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building as the court considers overturning Roe v. Wade on June 13, 2022, in Washington, DC.
Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images
The case that triggered Roe’s demise, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is related to a Mississippi law that banned nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Dobbs was by far the most significant and controversial dispute of the court’s term.
It also posed the most serious threat to abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe.
Dobbs deepened partisan divisions in a period of already intense political tribalism.
The early May leak of a draft of the majority opinion, which completely overturned Roe, sent shockwaves across the country and galvanized activists on both sides of the debate. It also cast a pall over the nation’s highest court, which immediately opened an investigation to find the source of the leak.
The publication of the court’s draft opinion, written by Alito, sparked protests from abortion-rights supporters, who were outraged and fearful about how the decision will impact both patients and providers as 22 states gear up to restrict abortions or ban them outright.
The leaked opinion marked a major victory for conservatives and anti-abortion advocates who had worked for decades to undermine Roe and Casey, which the majority of Americans support keeping in place.
But Republican lawmakers in Washington, who are hoping to win big in the November midterm elections, initially focused more on the leak itself than on what it revealed. They also decried the protests that formed outside the homes of some conservative justices, accusing activists of trying to intimidate the court.
The unprecedented leak of Alito’s draft opinion blew a hole in the cloak of secrecy normally shrouding the court’s internal affairs. It drew harsh scrutiny from the court’s critics, many of whom were already concerned about the politicization of the country’s most powerful deliberative body, where justices are appointed for life.
Roberts vowed that the work of the court “will not be affected in any way” by the leak, which he described as a “betrayal” intended to “undermine the integrity of our operations.”
The leak had clearly had an impact, however. Tall fencing was set up around the court building afterward, and Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the U.S. Marshals Service to “help ensure the Justices’ safety.”
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Harris, Obamas and voting rights leaders work to turn out Black voters in run-up to Election Day
MIAMI (AP) — Concerts and carnivals hosted at polling precincts. “Souls to the Polls” mobilizations after Sunday service. And star-studded rallies featuring Hollywood actors, business leaders, musical artists and activists.
Such seemingly disparate efforts all have a single goal: boost Black voter turnout ahead of Election Day.
How Black communities turn out in the 2024 election has been scrutinized due to the pivotal role Black voters have played in races for the White House, Congress and state legislatures across the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who if elected would be the second Black president, has made engaging Black voters a priority of her messaging and policy platform. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump has sought to make inroads with Democrats’ most consistent voting bloc with unorthodox and at times controversial outreach.
Democratic candidates, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, right, and unincorporated Miami-Dade voters dance to the sounds of the Bahamian Junkanoo band during a festive visit to the polls at the Joseph Caleb Center during the “Souls to the Polls” event on the last day of early voting Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Miami. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)
Voters and attendees gather around for t-shirts in support of the Harris-Walz ticket at the Joseph Caleb Center during the “Souls to the Polls” event on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, the last day of early voting in Miami. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP) A key strategy in Harris and Democrats’ Black voter outreach includes dispatching the first Black president and his wife, the former first lady, to battleground states where winning may come down to how well the Obamas convince ambivalent or apathetic voters that they must not sit this one out.
Democratic efforts have ranged from vigorous door-knocking campaigns in Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia this weekend to swing state rallies. Michelle Obama rallied voters in Norristown, Pennsylvania on Saturday alongside Grammy award-winning artist Alicia Keys while Barack Obama stumped in Milwaukee on Sunday. The former first lady also conducted her own scrupulously nonpartisan rally on Tuesday where speakers evoked the South’s Civil Rights history.
“I’m always amazed at how little so many people really understand just how profoundly elections impact our daily lives,” Michelle Obama said. “Because that’s really what your vote is, it is your chance to tell folks in power what you want.”
Efforts to boost Black voter turnout often start at the community level. In Miami, members of local churches gathered Sunday at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center and marched to a nearby early voting center as part of a Souls to the Polls event.
“It helps a lot to encourage others to vote,” said Regina Tharpe, a Miami resident. She had voted earlier, but said people “get excited when they see us walking down the street. It encourages them to get out.”
Sharina Perez, a first-time voter, brought her mother, Celina DeJesus, to vote on the last day of early voting in Florida. She said a number of issues inspired her to vote. “It was for myself, my future, my mom’s future and for the younger generation,” she said.
Organizers focused on Black communities say they are often combating exhaustion and cynicism about politics, especially among younger Black voters and Black men. But they are cautiously optimistic that their efforts will bear fruit.
“If you want the people who are going to be most impacted to come out, you have to go where they are,” said Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, whose campaigns aimed at Black voters included live events in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The group has reached more than 8 million voters in those states through text messaging and digital in the last month, he said.
”We’ve been going to those precincts and communities, those new platforms and websites where there is so often misinformation targeting our communities,” Brown said.
What to know about the 2024 Election
Other events have had a more free-flowing structure. The Detroit Pistons, for instance, hosted a “Pistonsland” festival in a majority Black neighborhood featuring musical performances from rappers including Lil Baby, carnival games, food trucks and other fanfare alongside the opportunity to cast a ballot. The nonpartisan carnival was constructed next to an early voting polling place.
Democratic candidates, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, left, and unincorporated Miami-Dade voters dance to the sounds of the Bahamian Junkanoo band during a festive visit to the polls at the Joseph Caleb Center during the “Souls to the Polls” event on the last day of early voting Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Miami. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)
“I don’t like neither one,” said Karl Patrick, a Detroit native who attended the festival. He strongly backed Harris, however, “because Trump wants to be a dictator.” Not all of his close friends had come to the same conclusion — at least one of his friends was fervently backing the former president, he said.
Black voters are the most overwhelmingly Democratic voting demographic in the country. But the Trump campaign has made a more concerted pitch to win a greater share of Black voters this year, particularly Black men.
The Trump campaign has similarly zeroed in on economic arguments. Trump has repeatedly argued that undocumented immigrants take “Black jobs,” despite economists finding the claim unfounded. The campaign believes the former president’s broader pitch on the economy, crime and traditional values has appeal in Black communities.
“If Kamala wanted to turn our country around, then she would do it now,” said Janiyah Thomas, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign. “We deserve more than token gestures — we deserve a leader who respects us, empowers us, and backs it up with action.”
GOP Reps. Byron Donalds and Wesley Hunt have emerged as key surrogates in Trump’s outreach to Black men. The campaign hosted a Black men’s barbershop roundtable with Donalds in Philadelphia in October. The Black Conservative Federation, which hosted a gala Trump attended earlier this year, held a “closing argument” event Sunday with Donalds and Hunt.
Millions of Black voters, like many Americans, have already cast a ballot in the election, including in Georgia and North Carolina.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia, spoke about that state’s turnout at a Tuesday brunch and bus tour launch hosted by the Black Music Action Coalition.
“The truth of the matter is that Trump has been advising his people who always vote on Election Day to get out early. So they’re the ones that are making these numbers look so big. On our behalf, Black people, we have been slightly underperforming,” Johnson said.
Early Black voter turnout slightly lagged in North Carolina compared to 2020, though increased turnout at the close of early voting shrunk the gap. Whether Black voter turnout breaks records in 2020 hinges on Election Day. Many veteran Black leaders are confident the myriad strategies will bring voters out.
“Now obviously, there’s always a group of people who still don’t believe that their vote makes a difference and they lag behind,” said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, a Detroit pastor and the president of the city’s NAACP chapter. But so far, he added, “the indicators to us are such that those people are going to turn out. They’re not going to miss this this historic moment.”
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Matt Brown reported from Wilmington, Delaware. Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed.