Several prominent black Democrats have recently urged the Biden campaign to intensify its outreach efforts and earn support from black voters, warning that time may be running out ahead of the presidential election this fall.
"I’m in a battleground state. I know what has and hasn’t been done. I felt a level of disconnection earlier on the message, on the messengers and on mobilization," said Congressional Black Caucus chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D., Nev.), who has voiced his concerns directly to Biden’s campaign team, according to Politico.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) echoed Horsford’s sentiments, noting that "the way that we communicate [with voters] has changed in such a way that, if you don’t invest earlier, it’s going to be a problem."
"I’m not saying that it’s the last minute, but we are in crunch time," Crockett warned the Biden campaign in comments to Politico.
Vice President Kamala Harris said in a recent interview that the campaign must earn the support of black voters. "Black men are like everybody. You got to earn the vote," Harris said. "Like any group, this is not a monolith. So let’s not just have the rote kind of talking points as though black men only care about criminal justice."
Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of political action committee BlackPAC, also told Politico, "When you tell people, 'Here’s what the Biden administration has done,’ particularly related to issues the Black communities care about, people are really surprised."
A senior Biden campaign official said the campaign is confident about its efforts to reach black voters, according to the outlet.
An April poll by the Pew Research Center revealed Biden’s shrinking support among black voters, a demographic that has historically been a solid voting bloc for the Democratic Party. While 95 percent of black women and 87 percent of black men voted for Biden in the 2020 election, only 55 percent of black voters last month approved of Biden’s job performance.