Harris to face Black journalists' questions at Philadelphia NABJ event

By Andrea Shalal and Stephanie Kelly

(Reuters) -Black journalists will interview Democratic candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday on her plans if elected president, seven weeks after her Republican rival Donald Trump questioned her Black identity at the group's annual convention.

Harris will take part in a Philadelphia forum organized by the National Association of Black Journalists, scheduled after the U.S. vice president did not attend the group's convention in Chicago in July.

Former President Trump's appearance at that event led to controversy over his comments and his treatment of one of the moderators over a line of questioning he regarded as unfair.

Harris had said she was willing to attend a separate forum held by the group after what her team described as a scheduling conflict with the convention, held just over a week after U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.

The interview will be conducted by three of the organization's members, as was Trump's, in this case reporters from TheGrio and Politico as well as an anchor for WHYY-FM, a public radio station.

Both Harris and Trump have made efforts to win over Black voters, whose support may be decisive in the closely fought Nov. 5 vote, especially in a handful of battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Some forecasters regard Pennsylvania as a must-win state.

In Georgia, an intense battle is being waged for the Black voters who make up a third of the state's population, the biggest proportion of Black voters in any of the seven battleground states.

Harris' late entry into the race ignited a burst of popular enthusiasm, but an absence of many specifics in some policy areas could prompt questions about education, the economy and criminal justice - all of particular interest to Black voters.

Trump's attempt to pull in more support from Black voters is complicated by their traditional loyalty to the Democratic Party, his past racist remarks and a history of Republican-backed voting restrictions that activists say make it harder for Black residents to vote. Republicans deny trying to suppress the vote.

Black voters supported Biden 92% to 8% over Trump in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. Most Black voters, 63%, plan to support Harris, compared with 13% for Trump, according to an NAACP survey released this month.

However, some Black voters are losing faith in the Democratic Party. Over one quarter of younger Black men say they would support Trump this election, the NAACP poll showed.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Stephanie Kelly and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Sonali Paul and Howard Goller)