Black women mobilize for Kamala Harris' campaign but brace for backlash

WASHINGTON ‒ On Sunday afternoon, Glynda Carr's cellphone started buzzing and didn't stop . There was text after text heralding the growing likelihood that Kamala Harris would be the Democratic nominee for president.

Carr, whose organization she co-founded to support Black female candidates, wasn't surprised people would reach out as they heard the news.

But when she signed in to a Zoom call that evening to mobilize support for Harris, she was excited to learn there were tens of thousands of other Black women there as energized as she was.

More than 44,000 people, most of them women, joined Sunday’s video call, which lasted well past midnight and netted more than $1.5 million for the Harris campaign, organizers said . Some signed up to work in their communities and pledged to ramp up get-out-the-vote efforts in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to step down from his reelection bid and endorse Harris.

But they’re also bracing for attacks against the vice president, who would make history as the first woman of color to become a major party nominee.

“We celebrated (last night)," Carr said Monday, "but today we’re going to protect defend, fight, organize and mobilize."

A few social media sites already were brimming by Monday afternoon with criticisms about Harris' policies, her intelligence, her laugh and her accomplishments.

Carr and others also believe it was intentional that several speakers at the National Republican Convention earlier this month mispronounced Harris' first name . “That had coded undertones,” she said.

Freda Player, an elected Metro Nashville school board member and Tennessee Democratic delegate, expects Harris will face a barrage of criticism and skepticism because of her race and gender.

“It’s going to be a rocky road, especially where we are in this country,” Player said. “But we can appeal to our better angels and show the world that this is what democracy looks like."

The audacity of hope

Still, Harris' candidacy seemed to inspire the kind of hope not seen since Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, activists said . Obama was the nation’s first African American president, and his 2008 run for the presidency led to record Black voter turnout in many places.

On Monday, Tennessee state Sen. London Lamar choked up when reflecting on her own political path and the effect a Harris nomination, and a potential presidency, could have on other young Black women.

Lamar, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, recalled how she felt when she watched Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, take the stage after his nomination.

“I didn’t really think an African-American girl could pursue politics until I saw them on that stage,” Lamar said.

She’s now the youngest senator and youngest Black lawmaker to serve in Tennessee’s Senate, and last year she became the youngest senator in state history to give birth while in office.

“When I see Kamala on stage, I want to go hard for her, because I hope another young woman, whether she’s Black or any woman who cares about this country, feels the way I did in 2008,” Lamar said.

Black female activists and allies said Harris’ bid is reinvigorating the Democratic Party and particularly younger voters .

“There’s a new shot of energy,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, which has launched get-out-the-vote efforts across the country. “I think she brings a fresh new level of hope.

“We’ve not seen that level of excitement since Obama.”

Melanie Campbell, chair of the Power of the Ballot Action Fund, called this campaign a seminal moment.

Campbell believes that the bid could boost Black voter turnout, particularly among women, and that the support may come beyond the fact that Harris is a woman of color. The country has had a Black president, but never a woman, Campbell said.

“You have an opportunity for a woman to become president,’’ she said. “That’s a big deal. It’s unchartered waters.’’

Black women have been at this for a long time

For years, Black women led groups have been ramping up get-out-the-vote campaigns and building infrastructure to support Black female candidates.

Black female voters helped Doug Jones pull off an upset in Alabama in 2017, making him the state’s first Democratic senator in 25 years.

“The magic of Black women organizing is that it is done organically,’’ said Carr, noting Sunday’s Zoom call. “That’s what you saw last night.''

Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was one of the guest speakers on that call. She’s a regular on the calls, organized by #WinWithBlackWomen , a collective of intergenerational, intersectional Black female leaders. She calls them “truth-to-power conversations.”

There are usually a couple of hundred attendees. She described Sunday’s turnout as amazing.

“It says to me not only is this the right moment in history (but) that people were there to learn what role they could play,’’ Beatty told USA TODAY. “It was a good sign. It was about showing that women are more than 50% of our voting base. Black women have certainly led the way. And it also said that we‘re ready because it’s go time and we have the receipts to prove it.’’

In addition to Beatty, speakers on the off-the-record call included heads of national civic engagement organizations, faith leaders, congressional lawmakers and well-known community activists.

Carr's group, Higher Heights of America, which supports Black female candidates and more Black political involvement, hosted its own call Monday night.

Another call, this time for Black men, also took place Monday evening . “They have not had a call of this nature as Black men, and they have organized one in less than 24 hours,” said Stefanie Brown James, founder and senior adviser at Collective PAC, which aims to build Black political power. “That just goes to show you that folks are ready."

Some Black sororities and fraternities also have pledged to help. Harris is scheduled to speak Wednesday in Indianapolis at a conference of Zeta Phi Beta, a Black sorority and one of the nine elite Black Greek organizations.

Beatty said people want to be engaged and support Harris not just because she's a Black woman, but because she's a Black woman who has the experience, skills and knowledge to be a great president.

"People are all in because she is battle-tested.”

Hesitations and fears of backlash

But not everyone is optimistic about a Harris run.

Oneika Tinsley of Pleasant Hill, California, said she plans to vote for Harris by default and disgust. Tinsley is a mother of five who doesn't think the Biden-Harris administration has done enough to improve the economy.

Harris "is a beautiful woman with style and flair and I see everyone is aligned with her, but what about a mother who already knows she likely can’t afford to send her youngest daughter to college?” Tinsley said. “When is she going to speak to me and others like me?”

Tinsley said Harris has played it too safe addressing topics for the past four years.

“I’m not voting for Kamala because she’s a Black woman like me,” said Tinsley, a registered Democrat. “I’m just voting for Kamala because she’s the lesser of two evils.”

Some Black women worried that a Black woman wouldn't make the best candidate against Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has long been known for politically incorrect, racially charged stances.

“While I personally would love to see a Black female president in my lifetime, I don’t think we should have a woman of color against Trump,” said Olivia Jones, 22, a senior at Central Michigan University from Lansing, Michigan. “It’s unsafe territory. Of course I’m going to support her, but it’s not the smart pick. This is such an important election. This is not the time to chance it.”

Female activists said that while racist and sexist attacks aren’t new, they’re alarmed at how overt they are even in the first 24 hours of Harris' candidacy.

Trump himself posted to his social media website Truth Social on Monday afternoon and evening accusing Harris of being a terrible vice president, imcompetent, a liar, dumb, and way behind him in polls, which isn't accurate, according to the most recent surveys .

Carr said Black women expect that Trump and his fellow Republican leaders will aggressively target Harris on social media and in advertising campaigns.

“We expect not only that he will go after her … it’s going to be rooted in misinformation and disinformation and negativity,’’ Carr said.

They plan to counter Trump attacks with information campaigns, including on social media, about Harris and her record.

Black women will “push back against unfair attacks,’’ Campbell said.

Ange-Marie Hancock, executive director of the Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University and curator of the Kamala Harris Project, a consortium of scholars from the country studying the vice president, said Harris' historic bid will be challenging.

“This will still be a test for the United States,’’ Hancock said. “Even though she's had these almost four years and even though she's clearly capable, women elected officials are much less popular when they’re running for office than when they’re in office.”

The campaign would also have to figure out how to counteract attacks against her as a woman of color.

“They can't just pretend like that doesn't exist,’’ Hancock said.

With less than four months until Election Day, some activists vow to double down on get-out-the-vote efforts and share information about Harris’ policies and plans.

Player, the Nashville school board membe r and executive director of Emerge Tennessee, which helps recruit and train Democratic women for office , called Harris’ nomination “validating” for Black women, who have been the “backbone of the Democratic Party for decades."

“It’s refreshing. It’s motivating. It’s inspiring that we finally have our fair chance,” she said. “I think that’s what her nomination does for a lot of women of color. We’re not overlooked, we’re not invisible, and our support is not taken for granted or in vain.”

Contributing: Trevor Hughes and Rebecca Morin

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Black women mobilize for Kamala Harris' campaign but brace for backlash