The Democratic Party finds itself in an unprecedented situation. A sitting president has never decided to forgo running for reelection this late in the process. Democratic primary voters have been essentially disenfranchised by party elites, who are convinced that President Biden is a sure loser against former President Trump.
After an intense and orchestrated pressure campaign, Biden saw the writing on the wall, and today decided that he would not run for reelection. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country for me to step down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
MAGA world seems unfazed by the last minute switch. Some believe that Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely new nominee, would be as easy to beat as Biden, if not more. While that may be true, the Republicans are making a mistake if they underestimate their new opponent.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a moderated conversation with former Trump administration national security official Olivia Troye and former Republican voter Amanda Stratton on July 17, 2024 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Chris duMond/Getty Images
The Trump campaign is courting minorities as a part of their new coalition. They have chosen this path over trying to win Biden/Haley college educated suburban voters who used to comprise the GOP’s base. While I believe that it is a wise decision for the future of the GOP, that path has become more complicated now that Trump has to run against the likely first Black female presidential candidate.
Trump could have chosen a woman or a person of color as his vice presidential candidate as a bulwark against the possibility of this switch and having to run against the “historic” narrative. Instead, he chose J.D. Vance, a candidate tailor made to reinforce his strengths among the White, Midwestern working class (a group that Biden over-performed with in 2020).
Harris is weaker with white working class voters, but she could be stronger with minorities, particularly if the Trump campaign does nothing to blunt that effort. As of today, the outreach to Black and Hispanic communities has still been anemic. They are going to have to do far more now that they are likely running against a Black woman. The campaign should be releasing policy objectives tailored to those communities, teasing out potential members of the Trump cabinet and investing significantly in messaging on Black and Hispanic media outlets.
Vance in particular should revisit a conversation he had on my show The Outlaws two years ago, when he spoke on the importance of the Republican Party replacing the “country club set” with Black and Hispanic working class voters. On the show, he articulated how during the FDR era, the Black and white working class voted together, and how the Republican Party could be the governing party for a generation if they pursued a reunion of those groups. They should overtly tailor their message to those communities, making it abundantly clear that the “America First” agenda includes them in it. They should also push back on attempts from the Right to attack those communities.
Trump’s attacks against “Project 2025” shows that he has little fear of going against the hard Right. He should do the same whenever loud mouth, stupid so called “conservative” provocateurs attack or demean minority communities.
To be clear, Trump still has the advantage. Most polls have shown him ahead of Harris as well as Biden. But if they take Harris for granted, it will be the worst mistake of their campaign. If they want the Black and Hispanic voters that they are counting on, they are now going to have to fight for them.
Darvio Morrow is CEO of the FCB Radio Network and co-host of The Outlaws Radio Show.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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