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In preparation for the 2024 election, the Biden-Harris campaign launched its black voter drive on Wednesday at Girard College in Philadelphia, a majority black boarding school.
Around 2 p.m. in an auditorium filled with hundreds of Black Philly residents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris approached the podium to cheers and an audience chanting “four more years.”
As the president listed his accomplishments that affected black voters during his presidency, Biden repeated the refrain “one promise and one promise kept.” He said he relieved nearly 5 million Americans of student debt, outlawed police chokeholds, created police misconduct databases and appointed the first black woman to the Supreme Court.
Those achievements, Biden said, were made possible by the “tremendous confidence” black voters showed him in 2020.
Harris told the crowd that as a candidate, Biden pledged to fight some of the biggest issues facing the black community, such as capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors and eliminating medical debt as credit rating factor.
“Thank you!” shouted an audience member.
Addressing the election, Biden said: “We’re going to make Donald Trump a loser again. I’m still optimistic, but I need you.” His only question to black voters: “Are you with me?” The crowd rose to its feet as it chanted yes.
A few blocks outside the event, a small group of keffiyeh-wearing protesters served as a reminder of much younger voters’ displeasure with Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
But back in the hall, gospel singers dressed in black sang Oh Happy Day as they stood under a large blue poster that read “Black Voters for Biden Harris.” Girard College students wearing brown shirts clapped from the stands. The audience skewed older, with some attendees holding signs reading “Historically Black.”
Verna Hutchinson-Toler, a 75-year-old voter from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said she supported Biden because she is “passionate about voter registration as a social determinant of health.” She cited research that shows communities with high numbers of registered voters pay the most attention to their environmental and health needs.
As a chaplain at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Hutchinson-Toler saw patients who were victims of gun violence, which fueled her advocacy for gun control. “Personally, I think his record is incredible,” she said of Biden smash the ghost weapons.
Zelma Carroll, a 57-year-old certified nursing assistant from Philadelphia, was grateful that Biden erased some of her daughter’s student loans from the University of Pennsylvania. Carroll campaigned for the Biden-Harris campaign four years ago and plans to do so again soon. “I just hope they go into our neighborhoods and let people know where we’re going, where we need to be, and we can’t go back,” Carroll said. “We can’t have Trump.”
Winston Cameron, a registered independent, said he had come to the event to “hear from the horse’s mouth”. Cameron voted for Biden in 2020 and wasn’t sure if he would vote for him again. For Cameron, a 35-year-old student from Jamaica, immigration and the economy are the issues that concern him the most. “It could be better,” Cameron said of Biden’s track record in those arenas. “I see the positive changes he’s trying to implement, but I think it’s still a weak position.” Still, Cameron said, he was pleased with Biden’s attention to Dreamers, immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. Earlier this month, the Biden administration finalize a rule which would provide health coverage to Dreamers.
Overall, the audience at Wednesday’s event was energized by the administration’s push for black voters. But perhaps most of all, they wanted to ensure that Trump did not win re-election. “My only concern is that the other guy is coming back,” said Philadelphia resident Rick Harper, 77, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in August. “I’m very happy with President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
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