Black voters will help defeat Trump, Biden says in Philadelphia
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[May 30, 2024]
By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden began a new push in
Philadelphia on Wednesday to court Black voters, a critical voting bloc
that is showing signs of weakness for Democrats ahead of the November
election, as he attacked his Republican opponent.
"With your vote in 2024, we're gonna make Donald Trump a loser again,"
Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, told a cheering
crowd at Girard College, a historic boarding school founded to serve
poor, white orphan boys that desegregated in 1968.
Black voters have historically turned out for Biden and Democrats, and
were a key reason he beat Trump in 2020, but polls show they could be
less supportive of him this year as the pair face each other again on
Nov. 5.
Biden ran through a list of his policy achievements, including removing
lead pipes, a diverse administration, the first Black woman Supreme
Court justice and pardons for people sentenced for marijuana possession.
"Promises made, promises kept," Biden repeated frequently.
"I'll be damned if I'm gonna let Donald Trump turn America into a place
filled with anger, resentment and hate," Biden told the crowd, his voice
getting stronger as he closed his speech.
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"My question to you is a simple one: Are you with me?" he asked. "Talk
to your families," he said. "Spread the word."
Harris zeroed in on Black voters' importance for Democrats this year as
well, saying in opening remarks that "in 2024, with your voice and your
power, we will win again."
Democrats have long banked on strong voter turnout in Philadelphia — and
more recently, its suburbs — to offset weakness in more conservative
parts of Pennsylvania, a closely divided state that Biden narrowly won
in 2020.
The campaign's concern is not that the city’s Black voters will shift
toward Trump, but that too many of them may sit out the election.
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![](../images/053024PIX/news_t44.jpg)
Supporters of U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Vice President
Kamala Harris attend a campaign event at Girard College in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 29, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth
Frantz
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Black Democrats, including Maryland Governor Wes Moore and
Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford, of Nevada joined
the event, which marked what the campaign said was the official
launch of "Black Voters for Biden-Harris."
Earlier this month, Trump held a rally in the South Bronx
neighborhood of New York City as part of an effort to exploit
Biden's weakening support among Hispanic and Black voters.
Black voters make up about 14% of the U.S.'s eligible voters in
2024, Pew Research shows, and significantly higher percentages in
the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia.
This is Biden's third trip to Philadelphia and sixth to Pennsylvania
this year, continuing a focus on the swing state where polling shows
he narrowly trails Trump.
In Pennsylvania, Biden is doing slightly worse with Black voters
than four years ago, though he still wins the vast majority,
according to a New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College
survey released last week.
He was the choice of 69% of Black voters, compared with 79% in June
2020.
Trump was ahead in the state overall in the most recent poll.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Leslie Adler, Alistair
Bell and Daniel Wallis)
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