Election 2024: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s campaigns aim to woo black male voters

PHILADELPHIA – As the race for the White House continues, Pennsylvania is becoming a battleground within a battleground.

A key group for both campaigns: Black male voters. It is a group that is not always easy to reach.

As groups try to get more black men to vote, every presidential candidate hopes it will benefit them.

In February, Philadelphia City Council member Nicholas O’Rourke added his voice to the Black Men Vote campaign. The goal was to register at least 2,204 black men in the 2024 election, but registering and voting are two different things.

Our 6abc data team found that more than 16 million Black men were eligible to vote in the 2022 midterm elections, but only 38.6% actually voted.

“They don’t feel like their votes matter, that their voices matter, or that their issues matter,” said O’Rourke, who belongs to the Working Families Party and serves as Philadelphia City Council Minority Whip.

Both presidential campaigns are trying to exploit the “black male electorate.”

“Donald Trump’s record is pretty unprecedented and I think that’s being felt by African-American voters,” said TW Shannon, an adviser to Black Men for Trump, which works with the Trump campaign.

“Vice President Harris has a very active, very bold and committed agenda for black America,” said state Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Democrat who is also honorary chair of Black Men for Harris, which works with the Harris campaign.

An August 2024 Pew Research Center poll shows that 73% of black men plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris; 16% say they plan to vote for former President Donald Trump, who has seen increasing support from black men.

“We have a candidate who actually has a proven track record of leading the way on issues that are important to the Black community,” Shannon said.

This week, Harris unveiled what she calls an “opportunity agenda” for black men, focusing on issues such as reducing costs and increasing career opportunities.

“We are here to tell people that they matter. We’re here to tell people their lives matter,” Hughes said.

O’Rourke says the real work in engaging black men is focusing on issues that affect them beyond Election Day.

“We’re doing everything we can to engage black men,” O’Rourke said.