Kamala Harris' presidential campaign rejected an offer in late summer to spend millions to persuade and turn out Black voters — a group that Donald Trump made significant inroads with on his way to returning to the presidency.
The Congressional Black Caucus brought the Harris campaign a $10 million plan in September to mobilize undecided Black voters in key swing states, according to a memo viewed by POLITICO. It was a move that the campaign ultimately rebuffed, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
In a memo dated Sept. 16, the Black Caucus approached the campaign about a project dubbed the “Freedom + Opportunity Bus Tour.” Its goal was to target and mobilize Black voters who remained on the fence about the candidates, with less than 50 days left before Election Day.
It called for $1.5 million for a bus tour that would deploy Black Caucus members to those key states and another $8.3 million for a pair of social action groups — Let it Resound and Rolling Sea Action Fund — that focused on battleground House districts that had a Black voting population of at least 8 percent.
That bus tour would have been a 12-stop stretch across critical battleground states that Trump ultimately won or is on track to win: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona. It also called for stops in Nebraska’s second congressional district, which Harris ultimately carried.
It is not clear why the Harris campaign rejected the proposal. Campaign officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some Democrats have privately grumbled that the proposal would have been a tiny expenditure for an organization that had raked in more than $1 billion over the course of its 107-day campaign.
But though the Harris team rejected the bus tour, it had already started implementing some of the items outlined in the plan. That included tapping social media influencers for voter engagement and holding rallies with established civil and labor organizations.
Harris also headlined the Black Caucus’ 53rd Annual Legislative Conference in mid-September, where she outlined her vision of “hard work” in remarks that lasted roughly nine minutes.
Additionally, the Black Caucus’ proposal pitched working with Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations who were “accustomed to building mulitracial coalitions to win elections,” according to the memo. The push, according to the document, aimed not to duplicate the campaign’s efforts but to add value to the outreach Harris was already doing.
The plan also called for a dinner headlined by the vice president in September, looking to raise $1 million with an asking price of $5,000 per attendee.
The Congressional Black Caucus brought the Harris campaign a $10 million plan in September to mobilize undecided Black voters in key swing states, according to a memo viewed by POLITICO. It was a move that the campaign ultimately rebuffed, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
In a memo dated Sept. 16, the Black Caucus approached the campaign about a project dubbed the “Freedom + Opportunity Bus Tour.” Its goal was to target and mobilize Black voters who remained on the fence about the candidates, with less than 50 days left before Election Day.
It called for $1.5 million for a bus tour that would deploy Black Caucus members to those key states and another $8.3 million for a pair of social action groups — Let it Resound and Rolling Sea Action Fund — that focused on battleground House districts that had a Black voting population of at least 8 percent.
That bus tour would have been a 12-stop stretch across critical battleground states that Trump ultimately won or is on track to win: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona. It also called for stops in Nebraska’s second congressional district, which Harris ultimately carried.
It is not clear why the Harris campaign rejected the proposal. Campaign officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some Democrats have privately grumbled that the proposal would have been a tiny expenditure for an organization that had raked in more than $1 billion over the course of its 107-day campaign.
But though the Harris team rejected the bus tour, it had already started implementing some of the items outlined in the plan. That included tapping social media influencers for voter engagement and holding rallies with established civil and labor organizations.
Harris also headlined the Black Caucus’ 53rd Annual Legislative Conference in mid-September, where she outlined her vision of “hard work” in remarks that lasted roughly nine minutes.
Additionally, the Black Caucus’ proposal pitched working with Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations who were “accustomed to building mulitracial coalitions to win elections,” according to the memo. The push, according to the document, aimed not to duplicate the campaign’s efforts but to add value to the outreach Harris was already doing.
The plan also called for a dinner headlined by the vice president in September, looking to raise $1 million with an asking price of $5,000 per attendee.
these people are pathologically sick
One thing right wing conservatives do well is forming political nonprofits that run ads on TV/social media and have campaign initiatives. This appears the CBC wanted to act like they were doing something two months before the election. The article said the Harris campaign raised $1 billion. Offering$10 million is small potatoes and they already had a bus tour, people on the street registering people, and fundraising dinners.
