PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With six days until the election, the Harris campaign seems to be narrowing its focus and courting voters from key demographic groups. In Philadelphia Wednesday, there were three celebrity-studded Get Out The Vote events aimed at union members, Latino voters and Black men.
“We have to vote for our sister. This is a matter of life and death,” said Director Spike Lee, who headlined the Black Men for Harris rally. There, speakers addressed reports that Black men are not sufficiently supporting the vice president. State Senator Vincent Hughes refuted the claim.
“It’s called trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. No. We’re here as the campaign closes up to make the final assertion: Black men are FOR Kamala Harris,” he said.
Councilman Isaiah Thomas, head of Black Men for Harris in Pennsylvania, said he understands that the closeness of the race is producing anxiety that any one part of the Democratic coalition could weaken but he also rejected the notion that it would be Black men.
“Let’s go ask other demographics, ‘Are y’all going to do the right thing? Because the time is now,’” Thomas said.
“It’s not just about what we’re scared of, it’s also about what we see moving forward, and what we see is an opportunity to do something we’ve never done before — to elect a woman, a woman of color, to the highest seat in the United States of America.”
Turnout in Philadelphia is seen as key to that goal, as a new Monmouth University poll shows Pennsylvania evenly split between Harris and Donald Trump.
Also on Wednesday, Lin Manuel Miranda rallied the Latino vote in North Philadelphia. And actor Martin Sheen, who played the president on “The West Wing,” is in Philadelphia for two days of campaigning with organized labor.