Where is Kamala Harris today? Travels include talk with Black journalists
Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to take questions from three members of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Her visit comes six weeks after former President Donald Trump sat down with the organization at their national convention in Chicago, where he made false claims about Harris’ racial identity and clashed with one of the moderators.
Harris previously declined an invitation to the NABJ convention because it conflicted with Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s funeral. The July convention also took place less than a week after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
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The Democratic presidential candidate will field questions at WHYY, Philadelphia’s local PBS radio station, according to reporting from Reuters. Her interview will be hosted by Tonya Mosley, co-host of NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Gerren Keith Gaynor of TheGrio, and Eugene Daniels, White House correspondent for Politico.
Both Harris and Trump have spent considerable time trying to court Black voters, whose support is seen as crucial in the 2024 election. For Trump, it’s an uphill battle.
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According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in late August, 77% of Black voters surveyed at the time were planning to cast their ballot for Harris. That’s up from the 64% of Black voters who planned to support Biden before he exited the race.
Black voters tend to support the Democratic Party. In 2020, 92% of Black voters supported Biden compared to Trump’s 8%.
Harris’ trip to Pennsylvania on Tuesday may also help her standing in the state. With its 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is seen as a must-win swing state in the November election.
Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter access issues for the Paste BN Network. You can reach her at mcruz@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.