Black voters in swing state NC balance enthusiasm with pragmatic politics

Vice President Kamala Harris returns to North Carolina this week as the 2024 presidential contest heats up. (Photo by Chris duMond/Getty Images)

Civil rights icon Ben Chavis told the inaugural gathering of NC Black Voters for Harris that this presidential cycle is an answer to the prayers of those who have come before them and fought for the right to vote.

“It’s an answer to the prayers of our parents. It’s an answer to our young people, who have aspirations of looking for a better quality of life. There’s really no choice in this campaign,” said Chavis in his praise of Harris.

A few weeks ago, a general malaise had seemingly set over the 2024 election, with a lack of enthusiasm for a repeat of the 2020 contest between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. But with  Biden passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, Chavis said voters can see a worthy new candidate who has served as a state attorney general, a U.S. Senator and a Vice President with foreign policy experience.

“We have so much to vote for, not just to vote against, but to vote for,” Chavis told an online audience of more than 400 last week. “I particularly want our young people, our millennials and generation Z to get inspired and not be dissuaded by all the falsehoods and distractions and misinformation on social media.”

Nearly a dozen years after he and the surviving members of the Wilmington Ten were granted pardons of innocence by then Gov. Beverly Perdue, Chavis now teaches at Duke University and tells his students that voter participation is a requirement to be in his class.

“I feel good about North Carolina. Don’t pay attention to these polls. We are the poll. We will determine what goes on in the polls. And I believe that Kamala Harris is gonna take North Carolina, not just by an edge, but by a landslide,” said Chavis.

Any landslide could be helped by “souls to the polls” events across the state.

Reverend Dr. Jay Augustine, senior pastor of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Durham, cautioned that church resources could not be used to support individual campaigns. Partisanship is  prohibited, but it’s perfectly permissible to talk about issues in the communities they serve, like access to a high-quality education.

A story worth telling

State Auditor Jessica Holmes, the first Black woman in North Carolina history to sit on the Council of State, said as a first-generation college student and she is a living testament that education is the great equalizer.

“Vice President Kamala Harris, along with President Biden, launched the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever, canceling over $136 billion in student debt for over 3.7 million borrowers, including myself,” shared Holmes. “So I’m not just talking about this as a talking point. I personally had my student loans forgiven through the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program under this administration.”

She said that this an important issue for Black people, who take on about 85% more educational debt than their counterparts.

Holmes said it’s a record that bears repeating. The Biden-Harris administration has made college more affordable. They’ve increased Pell grants, and invested a record $16 billion in HBCUs , including the ten historically Black colleges and universities in North Carolina.

Holmes said Black voters have the power to determine the outcome of the presidential election, but the party needs to reclaim those voters who came out in 2008 and 2012 but haven’t voted since.

Inspiring a new generation of voters, building on lessons learned

Chris Suggs is currently the youngest elected official in North Carolina.

The 24-year-old Kinston City Councilman said as a young leader, he is inspired to see Harris usher in the next generation of the Democratic Party.

“Vice President Harris is the real deal y’all. She’s generated strong support among advocates for reproductive rights, democracy, young voters LGBTQ+ rights and our labor unions. She’s not working to build walls and divisions like those other folks. From what we witnessed, she has united our party like never before,” Suggs said.

As a North Carolina delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Suggs said it was a proud moment to submit his ballot petition officially nominating her to be the party’s presidential nominee.

But you can have a phenomenal candidate and still lose, if you don’t have a good ground game.

Denise “DD” Adams currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem in Winston Salem and a co-chair of Black Voters for Harris. She’s worked on the campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Adams told Harris supporters that everybody gets excited about registering new voters, but it’s not enough this year.

“If you are not making sure they got an ID , what good was it in registering them? When they get to the polls, they get turned away.”

Adams said volunteers needed to make sure those who were being registered to vote, have a proper ID, and transportation to get to the polls.

“Back in the old days, that was a system. There was a check and balance for everybody registered to vote. Now we have got to put in the ID. Now we got to get them to the polls, which means we got to call them,” said Adams.

With a nod to HBO’s The Wire , Adams said volunteers need to be active and visible in their own communities and work their corners.

“Be accountable for your precinct. Be accountable for your county. That’s every precinct,” stressed Adams in turning out the vote.

Adams said four years ago Georgia was the battleground state that determined the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. She believes North Carolina could have that distinction in November.

Harris has signaled she believes that too. She returns to the Tar Heel state on Thursday with her newly named vice-presidential pick.

Later in the week, Black Voters for Harris will hold canvassing events in Charlotte and Fayetteville.

“It is now up to us to bring it home for her. We got to put her on our shoulders,” said Adams. “Y’all have heard me say, Black women carry the water . We got to carry her across the finish line.”