Harris reportedly dismisses question about declining black turnout: ‘Talk to me after 2024’

Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly refused to address questions over the decline in black voter turnout seen by the Democratic Party in the 2022 midterm elections.

Asked about the administration’s “disconnect” between its accomplishments and translating them into enthusiasm among black Americans and higher voter turnout, Harris told the New York Times‘s Astead W. Herndon, “Why don’t you talk to me after 2024?”

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In recent years, Democrats have seen support among minority groups, including black Americans, decline. Between 2020 and 2023, President Joe Biden’s share of non-white voters who planned to vote for him dropped from over 70% to 53%, per data from various New York Times/Siena College national polls.

This trend was also reflected in the midterm elections, in which black voter turnout dropped 10 points. In the Washington Post’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s turnout survey, black voter turnout fell from 51.7% in 2018 to 42% in 2022.

In the New York Times‘s new profile of the vice president, Harris was asked about the party’s relationship with black voters and if promises have been kept to the community. The author writes, “Harris launched into a recitation of talking points.”

He said the vice president pointed to money the administration has given to historically black colleges and universities, capping insulin prices, federal restrictions on certain police practices, and affordable housing being worked on by Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge.

Herndon wrote that he asked Harris, “Has there been enough substance that the administration has put on its inequality agenda?” and “Has that promise made to black communities been kept?”

“By this point in the interview, the window that was slightly open when Harris sat down felt as though it had been firmly shut,” he detailed.

According to the author, the interview was meant to be the first of two. But the second interview would not take place. “Over the weeks that followed, the vice president’s aides would repeatedly postpone the second interview that had been agreed to for this article,” he claimed.

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Likely in response to the dropping non-white Democratic support, Biden’s reelection campaign has moved early and spent big on engagement in the black and Latino communities. A portion of the campaign’s early $25 million ad buy has been devoted to strategic ads in black and Latino communities, particularly within battleground states. There have even been ads designed specifically for the groups, including “La Diferencia,” a Spanish language radio and video spot, and “Commitment,” geared toward black communities and focused on fighting for equity.

Harris has been deployed by the campaign to rally young and minority voters in recent months, delivering speeches to various black and Hispanic advocacy groups and visiting young voters on college campuses for speaking engagements during a cross-country bus tour.