By Bianca Flowers, Disha Raychaudhuri, Gabriella Borter and Allende Miglietta
(Reuters) - Black grassroots organizers are kicking off multi-state bus tours and raising millions of dollars for voter engagement and mobilization efforts in key battleground states, in hopes of helping secure Vice President Kamala Harris' White House bid ahead of the November presidential election.
Reuters spoke with more than a dozen groups that are ramping up get-out-the-vote efforts through digital organizing, door-knocking, and targeting low-propensity voters in swing states.
Black voters will play a pivotal role in the election, with both Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump vying for their support, which could help sway the electoral outcome in states expected to have razor thin margins.
Black communities have historically been viewed as the Democratic Party's most loyal voting bloc. But Black voter support for President Joe Biden had dropped earlier this year, largely driven by pocketbook issues, such as high inflation and the rising cost of living, as well as a lack of progress on racial justice efforts.
Harris, who would become the first Black woman and South Asian person to become president, now leads Trump 42% to 37%, according to an August Reuters/Ipsos poll, but experts and advocates said the challenge will be to transform excitement into voter turnout.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, said grassroots organizing will be crucial in turning out Black voters in Georgia, southern belt states and swing states. Brown's organization is embarking on a get-out-to vote bus tour across 20 states now through Nov. 5. The organization is planning to fill up two charter buses and 20 bus vans with volunteers.
"Some of my friends who I've been trying to get engaged in this election, they'd say 'oh yeah, I'm going to vote'," Brown said. "Now, they are going beyond saying 'I'm going to vote' but 'put me to work.'"
Organizers in Georgia, the state that helped clinch Biden's 2020 presidency and two key U.S. Senate Democratic seats, plan to again galvanize a multiracial coalition of voters.
Black Voters Matter Fund is collaborating with more than 100 local community groups across Georgia and other states to enhance get-out-the-vote efforts which Brown believes will help them reach an estimated 10 million voters.
Makiah Reeves, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia plans to join hundreds of volunteers on the bus tour to energize young Black voters, who she believes remain apathetic. She'll be participating in a youth-focused campaign that includes historically Black college campuses outreach events.
"To hear a lot of young people say they just don't want to vote, it needs to change," Reeves said.
The NAACP announced earlier this year the launch of Building Community Voice Fund, a non-partisan, multi-million dollar fund established to provide grants to nonprofit voter registration and voter turnout initiatives and organizations, including complementary voter education and voter protection programs.
Last week, nine advocacy groups formed the Black Power Voters Alliance to mobilize 1.6 million Black voters in seven states.
Groups like BlackPAC, a left-leaning political action committee, are pouring millions into their voter outreach efforts. BlackPAC said it is spending $30 million in Black voter outreach in battleground states.
Grassroots leaders are also implementing safety measures to protect volunteers amid concerns about political violence.
"Where we do field work, we always have security now," said Melanie Campbell, president of National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
Elijah Grace, the New Georgia Project Action Fund's Director of Field Operations said they're training door-knocking canvassers on de-escalation techniques.
CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR HARRIS CAMPAIGN
Despite high enthusiasm for Harris, a significant disparity remains among likely voter turnout between younger and older Black voters, said Terrance Woodbury, chief executive of public opinion research firm HIT Strategies.
"Black voters under 50 are more than half of the electorate and remain the least likely voters," Woodbury said, adding researchers are continuing to examine the reasons why. "It's a gap in their vote choice and it's a gap in their decision to vote or not vote at all."
With less than 80 days until the election, Harris' campaign hopes to reengage disenchanted voters and lure undecided moderates.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, senior advisor to the Harris campaign and former mayor of Atlanta, said trusted local community members should be deployed to communicate Harris' platform and accomplishments.
"There's a really strong record to run on from the Biden Harris administration," Bottoms said. The campaign has yet to reveal specific policy platforms addressed to the Black communities.
Yet, they still face the challenge of luring undecided voters. Many pro-Palestinian activists have said they refuse to vote for Harris without commitments towards changing U.S. policy towards Israel. Thousands are expected to protest the Biden administration outside the Democratic National Convention this week.
Republican strategist Jon Fleischman said Harris and Trump can count on deep support from their respective bases, but that alone won't translate into winning the election.
“They both have an identity that they feel will really appeal to their base, and at the same time, they both need to figure out how to get to that undecided swing voter," he said.