NEW ORLEANS — Saturday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris will join the CEO of the Essence Festival of Culture for a forum. The visit is part of a push by the Biden-Harris campaign to reach Black voters as the presidential election nears.
It comes at a critical time for the campaign, which the latest CBS poll shows is trailing slightly behind that of Donald Trump.
This will be VP Harris’ third Essence Fest appearance in a row.
“She is the ethos of what Essence festival stands for as our first Black woman Vice President,” Brencia Berry, the National Political Director of the Democratic National Committee, told WWL Louisiana Friday.
She said VP Harris plans to highlight her and President Biden’s accomplishments during their time in office, “making clear who the choice is on the ballot between President Biden and Vice President Harris and former President Trump.”
It is part of a focus on politics that has been a feature at this year’s festival. During a panel Friday, Reverend Al Sharpton urged the crowd to vote in November, adding that “this is about us being empowered, protected and who is going to serve our interests.”
State Democratic leaders agree that this election is more serious than most. “I think the future of our democracy’s at stake,” said Randal Gaines, Chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “Essence festival is really the best, most effective way to communicate to a large number of voters, particularly black voters.”
The visit will also happen at a time that could prove crucial for the Biden-Harris campaign. A CBS poll released earlier this week shows 48% of “likely voters” favor President Biden, while 50% favor Trump. The numbers are the same across only battleground states.
The poll came out less than a week after the first debate, in which President Biden appeared to slur and lose his train of thought at several points.
Berry said the decision to include Harris in the Essence Fest lineup was not connected to the debate and had been in the works for a while. “It really is just a continuation of the work that we have to do to demonstrate that we are not taking any vote for granted,” she said.
The Vice President is scheduled to speak at 5:15 Saturday. Her plane is scheduled to land at Armstrong International at 7:20 p.m. Friday.
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