Harris unveils agenda to help Black men ‘get ahead’ as polls show Trump gains

Vice President Harris is rolling out a new agenda that aims to boost financial and career prospects for Black men.

The release of the Harris campaign’s “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” on Monday comes just four days after former President Obama, in comments that went viral, admonished Black male voters for a lack of enthusiasm in support of Harris. Obama’s comments came as polls indicate former President Trump is making gains with Black men, who are traditionally some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters.

The Harris campaign, with just over three weeks to go until Election Day, hopes to spotlight its agenda to help Black men achieve “the opportunity to get ahead, to thrive” by equipping them “with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights.”

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

The proposals include providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business, championing education, training and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.

Also highlighted by the campaign is a regulatory framework to protect Black men’s investments in cryptocurrency and other digital assets, a health equity initiative focused on Black men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, prostate cancer and other health challenges that disproportionately impact them, and the creation of opportunities for Black Americans in the recreational marijuana industry.

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Former Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Harris campaign national co-chair, said the new agenda aims to make sure that “Black men are equipped with the tools to thrive: to buy a home, provide for our families, start a business and build wealth.”

“Donald Trump could care less about equipping hardworking Americans with the tools needed to get ahead,” Richmond said. “While Vice President Harris is promising to equip Black men with the tools needed to pursue our dreams and aspirations, Donald Trump is promising Black in America a national nightmare.”

Republican presidential nominee and former President Trump is shown at a rally in Coachella, California, on Oct. 12, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

To help spread the message, the Harris campaign said it is teaming up this week with Black male celebrities, influencers and activists in key battleground states this week for “Black Men Huddle Up” events. The campaign spotlights that it’s also enlisting the support of influential entrepreneurs for what it calls an “Economic Freedom Talk” series with Black business owners.

The new effort comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned about wavering support among Black men, and in particular younger Black men, for Harris, who would make history if she is elected as the nation’s first female president.

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Harris and Trump are locked in a neck and neck race in the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House race. Any erosion of support among Black voters, and in particular Black males, could prove costly to the vice president.

Obama, speaking Thursday at a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh, recollected the surge in support among Black voters that boosted him toward history in 2008 to become the nation’s first Black president. He bluntly said he couldn’t understand why Harris wasn’t enjoying the same level of enthusiasm, noting that the hesitation was “more pronounced with the brothers.”

Former President Obama speaks during a campaign event in support of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 2024. (REUTERS/Quinn Glabicki)

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Obama said. “I’ve got a problem with that.”

Speaking directly to Black males, the former president said that “part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

As expected, Black supporters of Trump quickly rebuked the former president.

“President Obama’s recent call for Black men to support Kamala Harris based solely on her skin color, rather than her policies, is deeply insulting,” the Black Men for Trump advisory board argued this weekend.

But some Democrats also called out the former president for his remarks, arguing that Obama unfairly admonished Black men without striking a similar chord with other demographic groups that have also expressed increased support for Trump.

In another pitch to Black voters, Harris on Tuesday heads to Detroit in battleground Michigan to sit for a town hall discussion with radio talk show host Charlamagne Tha God, whose “The Breakfast Club” program is popular with Black listeners.

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