Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris appealed to black voters, a key Democratic base, on the 20th in the southern battleground state of Georgia, using her Christian faith to appeal to them. Vice President Harris attended a service at a large black church in Stonecrest, Georgia.
Harris cited the story of the Good Samaritan, who saved a man who had been robbed and lying on the side of the road, and said, “It teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves.” Although she did not mention former President Donald Trump by name, she pointed out that “at this moment, there are those across our country who are trying to deepen division, spread hate, incite fear, and create confusion.” “Our country is at a crossroads at this moment, and it’s up to us as Americans and as people of faith to decide where we go from here,” he said, urging voters to decide with their vote whether America will be a country of confusion, fear, and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion, and justice.
The day was Vice President Harris’s 60th birthday, and churchgoers sang Happy Birthday.
Vice President Harris then visited a church in Jonesboro, Georgia, and taped an interview with civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton for MSNBC. At the Jonesboro church, she also emphasized the importance of “faith in action,” and mentioned former President Jimmy Carter, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, voting by mail. “If he can vote, everyone can vote,” she said. “If you don’t vote, nothing (change) is going to happen.”
Stevie Wonder was there to sing a happy birthday song to Vice President Harris and warn of the dangers of a Republican victory in the upcoming election, the White House press pool reported. The Harris campaign is rolling out a nationwide campaign called “Souls to the Polls” to encourage black voters to vote, according to the Associated Press. The campaign is being led by an advisory committee of black religious leaders from around the country.
The AP explained that black churches have been working to expand black voter turnout since the days of racial discrimination and white supremacist suppression of black suffrage. Vice Presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will also visit a church in Saginaw, Michigan, a key battleground, on the same day, and Walz’s wife Gwen will attend a service in Las Vegas, Nevada.
NBC News reported that Vice President Harris has been appealing to black Christian supporters but has not highlighted her faith as much as President Joe Biden, a Catholic, or former President Barack Obama, a Protestant. NBC News assessed that in 2007, when former President Obama was preparing to run for president, only 16% of Americans were non-religious, but that number has now increased to 28%, reducing the incentive to show religious color in elections. It also explained that Vice President Harris attends a Baptist church, but was influenced by Hinduism from her mother, and her husband Doug Emhoff is Jewish, so her religious background is not simple.
In the extremely close race, Vice President Harris is trying to embrace various religions and ethnicities. On this day, Korean American Representative Marilyn Strickland (Democrat, Washington) met with Korean American Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters in Atlanta, Georgia, along with Korean American Representative Sam Park of Georgia, and appealed for support for Vice President Harris.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that on this day, Harris’s presidential campaign made the issue of age an issue, emphasizing that her rival, former President Trump, is 18 years older than Harris, in celebration of Vice President Harris’s 60th birthday.
In the final stages of their campaign, Vice President Harris’s camp is emphasizing that former President Trump, who is 78 years old this year and would become the oldest president in history if he wins the election, is mentally and physically unfit to be president.
Vice President Harris said at a rally in Michigan, a battleground state, the previous day that “he (Trump) is becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged,” and that “the American people deserve someone better than someone who seems unstable.” This “age-based issue strategy” was used by former President Trump’s side to target President Joe Biden, who was virtually confirmed as the Democratic presidential candidate at 81 years old this year but gave up his reelection bid in July, and Vice President Harris’s side is using this strategy against him.