By Brakkton Booker
Democrats are deploying prominent Black surrogates to Michigan to deliver an urgent plea: Black men, we need you.
It’s a concerted push, involving the likes of NBA hall-of-famer Magic Johnson, New York Attorney General Tish James, Democratic Party elder Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Gen-Z Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and actress Kerry Washington in Detroit, which is nearly 80 percent Black, and the surrounding area. And it’s the latest sign that the Kamala Harris campaign — and Democrats more broadly — see trouble on the horizon. Harris has built up a small advantage in Michigan, but soft turnout among Black voters could cause that lead to vanish in the face of a motivated Republican base.
Three dozen Black Detroiters, including strategists, activists, clergy, elected officials and likely voters, the vast majority of them men, told POLITICO about their concerns with the campaign’s outreach to Black voters. Some said their appeals come off as condescending. Others added that party officials and surrogates often question their intelligence if they inquire about how their lives will change under a Harris administration. Others lament the campaign hasn’t reached out to enough well-known grassroots organizations, who hear firsthand about the apathy from Black voters in marginalized neighborhoods like Belmont and Delray.