Black Democratic activists have reportedly accused the Harris campaign of shunning minority-owned political organizations in favor of white-owned ones.
The Allbritton Institute for Journalism's NOTUS reported on a call between Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign and NAACP President Derrick Johnson, in which Johnson and others were frustrated with the campaign's progress on spending plans, according to a person familiar with the call. Less funding for black-owned businesses More so than President Biden in 2020.
“If black voters are the base, black salespeople should be telling the story,” the source said. “We don't have clear answers to anything yet.”
“I'm a little concerned about spending so much,” said a Democratic consultant. [much] It's much less. I would say it's about a quarter or less than it was at this point four years ago.”
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Anonymous Democratic activists and staffers criticized the Harris campaign for not having a plan to increase spending on minority-owned businesses. (Getty Images)
“We managed to get through 2020 and we're not at the same levels of spending we were at then,” he added.
NOTUS spoke with more than a dozen vendors and staffers and found that despite record funding and the need to reach minority voters, the campaign is fairly ambivalent about “Black spending.”
“It's not just the media, it's get-out-the-vote and grassroots — there are 20 questions about everything related to black spending. We're talking about a tiny fraction of what's being spent on the general market. It's getting pretty insulting,” the Democratic activist said.
Cedric Richmond, Harris' current campaign co-chair, argued to NOTUS that the issue is not specific to the vice president but is an issue for the Democratic Party as a whole.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken about “Black spending” but has reportedly not made it a priority. (AP/Stephen B. Morton)
“Anyone who says it's not about the money is lying. It's all about the money,” Richmond said. “They're making noise because they want the money and the contracts. That's fair. That's fine and they should say so.”
Still, he stressed the need to appeal to minority voters.
“My response is: I'm trying to win elections, and I think we have to appeal to voters. We have to appeal to Black voters. We have to appeal to brown voters. We have to appeal to voters through people who have the expertise to connect with them,” Richmond said. “So I've been very particular about making sure that's what we're trying to do.”
NOTUS wrote that “it is unclear to what extent Ms. Harris is aware of these grievances,” though she has reportedly raised the issue with both her own campaign and the Biden campaign, but the issue has not been “prioritized.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
Harris currently leads former President Trump among black voters by more than 60 percentage points. (Fox News)
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According to data from the Howard University poll, black voters overwhelmingly favor Harris over former President Trump, 82% to 12%, but support for Trump has doubled to 16% among black voters under 50 and has risen to 21% among black men.
