WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� While was hosting a celebration of Black excellence at the White House with lawmakers, advocates and celebrities this past week, was instead headed off to campaign in Pennsylvania.
The nation's first Black vice president spoke there about supporting small businesses, building more housing and expanding the child tax credit. She said the country 鈥渘eeds a president of the United States who works for all the American people.鈥�
What she did not do was spend time talking about her race or gender or the prospect that she would be the nation's first Black and South Asian woman to be president if she defeated Republican .
As , she embodies her identity as a woman of color rather than making it an overt part of her pitch, choosing instead to emphasize her policies and resume.
She's making her case to minority voters in a number of key settings in the coming days. On Saturday at a Washington awards dinner sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, she told the crowd that as president she would work to build a strong middle class economy and protect freedoms including the right to vote and the right for a 鈥渨oman to make decisions about her own body.鈥�
鈥淲e have some hard work ahead of us. But hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work," she said. 鈥淕enerations of people before us led the fight for freedom; now the baton is in our hands.鈥�
Biden, meanwhile, speaking to the crowd right before her, talked about Harris as the first Black and South Asian woman vice president, and said 鈥淕od willing, she will become the first woman president of the United States of America.鈥�
On Tuesday, she'll sit with members of the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia. On Thursday, she'll attend a livestream rally headlined by Oprah Winfrey and involving groups such as 鈥淲in with Black Women,鈥� 鈥淲hite Women: Answer the Call,鈥� and 鈥漇outh Asians for Harris." On Friday, she campaigns in Wisconsin.
Throughout her career, Harris has been "many different firsts, and has never really led with that as a descriptor,鈥� said Brian Brokaw, who managed Harris' winning campaign for California attorney general in 2010.
鈥淗er life story and her identity and her background and her job experience have all been critical parts of her campaigns," he said. But he added that "becoming the first 鈥� that has never actually been part of her core rationale for why she should be elected a office. It just happens to be a important result of her elections.鈥�
Harris' identity, too, is evident in how she chooses to engage with voters. A member of a historically Black sorority while attending Howard University, at the annual assembly of another sorority, where she told the women 鈥渋t is so good to be with you this evening, and I say that as a proud member of the Divine Nine. And when I look out at everyone here, I see family.鈥�
It's a different approach from Hillary Clinton's in her 2016 Democratic campaign for president, when she put front and center her potential to break the glass ceiling. Harris' aides and allies say with no time to lose in a compressed campaign this year, it is perhaps more valuable to focus on voters rather than herself.
North Carolina's Crystal McLaughlin, , acknowledged Harris鈥� candidacy as an important 鈥渉istorical moment鈥� but added that what is more important is to look at 鈥渨ho wants to do what鈥檚 right.鈥�
Still, she said Harris' identity matters even if it is not the focus on her campaign.
鈥淚t's important, not only for Black young girls, but for girls period,鈥� said McLaughlin, 53, who is Black. 鈥淚f you can see it, you can actually be it.鈥�
So far, it鈥檚 been , falsely claiming that Harris belatedly 鈥渢urned Black.鈥� During the presidential debate this past week, he again said he had read she was 鈥渘ot Black鈥� and then she was.
Harris did not mention herself once in her response, saying instead: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people."
After Biden dropped out of the race in July, polling indicated that Black Americans were more excited about Harris as the Democratic nominee. In late July, that about 7 in 10 Black adults said would be satisfied with Harris as the Democratic nominee. That was a marked increase from earlier in July, when about half of Black adults and 15% of Hispanic adults felt that way about Biden.
conducted in August found that about half of Black adults said that 鈥渆xcited鈥� would describe their feelings 鈥渆xtremely鈥� or 鈥渧ery鈥� well if Harris was elected president. Only about 3 in 10 had said the same about Biden in March.
Although Black Americans overwhelmingly identify as Democrats and about 9 in 10 Black voters supported Biden in the 2020 election, according to AP VoteCast, there are some signs that older Black voters may be more supportive of Harris than younger Black voters are. found that about 9 in 10 Black voters over age 50 were supporting Harris, compared with three-quarters of Black voters 18 to 49.
Civil rights organizations focused on mobilizing Black voters say they have seen an uptick in enthusiasm and engagement since Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket.
The NAACP has been circulating messaging with allied groups that its researchers believe will especially resonate with Black voters, including protecting the rights of Black Americans and appealing to their responsibility to vote.
On economic questions, the civil rights group is urging organizers and campaigns to listen to Black voters鈥� concerns.
鈥淏lack voters want policy solutions,鈥� said Phaedra Jackson, vice president of unit advocacy and effectiveness at the NAACP. But she added: 鈥淩epresentation matters. Folks are excited to see a Black women vying for the highest office in the land鈥� and they care more about institutions when they are represented within those institutions.
The NAACP has focused much of its voter turnout efforts in battleground states where they believe issues like voter suppression will be a potential issue come November.
At a packed fundraiser with a predominantly Black audience ahead of Saturday night鈥檚 black-tie gala, Harris gave a version of her standard campaign speech, placing added emphasis on the importance of fighting back against what she called a 鈥渇ull-on attack on the freedom to vote.鈥�
She also called out efforts to divide Americans, 鈥渃reate fear鈥� and 鈥減it the people of our country against each another.鈥�
鈥淭his is what we鈥檙e up against,鈥� she said.
At the Greensboro rally, John Spencer, a 58-year-old geographer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said he wants Harris to stay focused on her plans for the future rather than her race and gender. Identity, unlike policies, is something you can tell just by looking at her, he said.
鈥淚deally in this country, a politician should be judged about their positions and not about anything other than who they are and their character and their positions,鈥� said Spencer, who is white.
He said Harris' positions matter more to him because he said they will ultimately impact his 11-year-old daughter Leah, who attended the Greensboro rally with him.
When Harris takes a stage, said 66-year-old Sheila Carter, the Democratic presidential candidate's identity is 鈥渟elf-explanatory.鈥� Discussion about her race and gender are secondary to what she offers as a candidate, said Carter, a Black retiree from Durham, North Carolina, who attended the rally.
鈥淵ou see who she is,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淎nd as she says, 鈥榃hy bother to even address whether or not I鈥檓 Black or Indian or whatever? I am who I am. You see it, I see it, the world sees it.鈥樷��
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Seminera reported from Greensboro, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Ayanna Alexander and Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.
Colleen Long, Makiya Seminera And Matt Brown, The Associated Press
