“We need to defend our sister everywhere”: Inside the organizing call for Harris

NEW YORK — After a month of doom, Democrats Zoomed.

Within hours of President Joe Biden’s bombshell news Sunday that he would not run for reelection, tens of thousands of Black women across the country — including many in New York — launched an ambitious organizing effort for Vice President Kamala Harris.

State Attorney General Tish James and New York-based consultants Lupe Todd-Medina, Amelia Adams, Tyquana Henderson-Rivers and Rachel Noerdlinger were among the Empire State women on Sunday evening’s “Win With Black Women” virtual call, according to a list of names provided to POLITICO. The organization formed in 2020 to support Black female candidates for elected office.

Other New Yorkers on the Zoom included NAACP New York President Hazel Dukes, Brooklyn state Sen. Roxanne Persaud, Long Island Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, Higher Heights for America PAC president Glynda Carr, Board of Regents member Hasoni Pratts and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.

Tens of thousands of participants joined the call, raising $1.5 million, according to a social media post and a participant granted anonymity to share details about what was meant to be an off-record gathering. And they provided strategy memos and talking points as they coalesce behind a candidate who would be the nation’s first female president.

“We need to defend our sister everywhere,” read the meeting notes obtained by POLITICO. “It is a ‘thing’ to have MAGA world chasing you.”

Organizers behind the memo urged anyone reading it to “pick at least one section or a part of a section of Project 2025 to read and become a subject matter expert in order to be armed w/ info & to support the effort that way.” Project 2025 is an expansive policy document written with input from former advisers of Donald Trump — the Republican candidate and his team have sought to distance themselves from it while Democrats dial up their warnings about what’s in it.

The strategy plan also urged attendees to persuade Democratic Party delegates to sign a pledge endorsing Harris. “She needs 300 to get her name for the nomination; they want to secure over 2K delegates,” it read.

And it highlighted what organizers perceive to be her best attributes, including her facetime as VP with foreign leaders. “She can make age and vigor an issue,” it read, drawing an implicit contrast to the 81-year-old Biden — and 78-year-old Trump.

Harris will not have an easy road.

Republicans immediately piled on Sunday, citing the White House’s handling of the ongoing border crisis with which she was tasked. (Polling consistently shows Americans are unhappy with the Biden administration’s handling of immigration, sparked by concerns over the situation at the southern border.)

Some progressives previously voiced concern about her history as a prosecutor, while conservatives are questioning her commitment to Israel — an issue with deep resonance in New York.

And polling shows Trump with an advantage in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — battlegrounds critical for Democrats’ success in November. (Polling with Harris at the top of the ticket is limited since she hasn’t become the nominee yet.)

But those on the virtual call were ready to get organized.

“It was just really the excitement of Black women and our allies not wanting to miss this historic moment,” said Jotaka Eaddy, who founded Win With Black Women and organized the call.

The call was so well attended that some trying to join received a message saying the meeting reached its maximum number of participants, according to screenshots shared with POLITICO.

James, the attorney general, has also been working to gather the support of Black attorneys general for Harris, a former attorney general herself.

She announced Sunday that she and the five other Black state attorneys general in the U.S. — from Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada — will be part of a coalition working to back Harris. They voiced their support for Harris in a joint statement Sunday evening.

Solages, the Long Island Assemblymember, said the call convinced her to stand behind the Vice President as the nominee.

“It really turned the course for me," she said, “and made me realize that our only option is supporting Kamala Harris for President.”

A version of this story first appeared Friday in New York Playbook PM. Subscribe here.