Camille McCallum is one of the thousands of Black women taking up the banner to support Vice President Kamala Harris — and she’s turning to TikTok to spread the word.
Inspired by a call filled with 44,000 Black women from diverse walks of life, McCallum jumped onto social media within hours of the news that Harris would be the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
The founder of Black Woman on a Mission is crafting videos to share voter registration information and debunk myths about Harris. The influencer and entrepreneur is also producing voter guides for college students and planning to participate with her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., on voter initiatives.
Black women like McCallum mobilizing for a Democratic candidate is not necessarily new; they are the backbone of the Democratic Party. Yet, the current political climate — reproductive and voting rights are at stake and an effort to roll back policies that supported Black economic and social progress — has made the collective sense of responsibility to protect and elevate Harris feel more urgent than ever, supporters told Capital B. With less than 100 days until Election Day, these supporters are considering fundamental questions. Can a Black woman of South Asian descent really win, what will it take to get her elected, and why is the bar set higher for Black women to lead?
Supporters also told Capital B that America is long overdue for a presidential candidate like Harris, and reject the notion that she’s not qualified enough. It took grit, determination, and hard work for Harris to serve as a state attorney general, U.S. senator, and vice president, McCallum said.
In Harris’ first statement after President Joe Biden’s endorsement, she wrote her intention was “to go out and earn” the nominee for the Democratic Party, which annoyed some Black women like LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.
“Black women are not seen until they’re needed,” Brown said. “This idea that she got to earn, what do you mean? She’s operating as the vice president. It’s almost like she’s invisible.”
Historically, Black women have been on the front lines of political action without receiving the credit or benefits of their labor. Captured by Zora Neale Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Black women are the “mules of the world.” Even when faced with overt sexism and racism, they still have to go over and beyond in order to succeed. The same insults are being thrown Harris’ way, her supporters said.
Organizers and political experts acknowledged this moment is no small feat. It builds on the work of Black matriarchs — such as Shirley Chisholm, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Ida B. Wells, and Harriet Tubman — “who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to democracy.”
There’s a paradigm shift in America
Since the days of Chisholm, Black women have boldly stepped up to lead in their communities – refusing to sit idly by. Aside from organizing and strategizing behind the scenes, they’ve pushed themselves into the forefront to seek — and win — political offices on the local, state, and federal levels. Harris’ run for president is the natural progression of Black women’s politics, said Sharon Austin, professor of African American studies at University of Florida, who is currently working on her forthcoming book Black Women and The Presidency. “It’s just a matter of time before we will have a Black female governor, and we will have a Black female president,” Austin said. “I really think that time is now.”
Brown echoed similar sentiments that the political landscape has shifted in recent years. Prior to former President Barack Obama winning the election in 2008, many people thought he couldn’t beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But, he did. Another example: Trump. Brown distinctively remembers watching Obama at a press conference in 2016, where he stated Trump, the Republican candidate, “will not be president” because “it’s a serious job. It’s not hosting a talk show or a reality show. … It’s hard.” Or most recently, Harris’ run for president in 2020, which resulted in a loss.
A lot has changed since then — and the electorate is more diverse. In 2020, where voter turnout reached historic numbers, younger Black, Asian, and Hispanic voters leaned heavily Democrat. Polls suggest voters across all demographics are excited to back Harris. For the past three years, Americans have gotten used to seeing a woman as a vice president, so the idea of Trump using Harris’ gender as a weapon against her doesn’t phase young voters, Brown said.
“What this tells me is that many people are really basing their political analysis on the politics of the past,” she said. “The paradigm in America is shifting, the way people get their news, the way that people communicate, has shifted.”
Brown and others fear that with momentum rising for Harris, political violence may ramp up, citing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, widespread myths of voter fraud, and continued wave of misinformation. Organizers also say that they suspect voters may have additional barriers to cast their ballot. This year, in at least 21 states, voters will face restrictions they’ve never encountered in previous election cycles, whereas voters in 28 states will face new restrictions that weren’t in place in 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Since 2020, more than two dozen states have passed voting laws to limit in-person voting and mail-in ballots, and to eliminate departments of motor vehicles, particularly in rural areas, to keep voters from getting IDs, said A’Shanti Gholar, president of Emerge, a national organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run and win political offices.
“There’s definitely people who want to uphold the power structures of which this country was founded upon, and that is the root of that right there,” Gholar said. “It goes back to the fact that this is why we need great elected officials in office who will help fight those laws.”
The organized efforts to silence Black people isn’t new, but there’s a unique opportunity to push a Black woman to the top of the ticket, said Adjoa B. Asamoah, a strategist who works at the intersection of policy and policy. Due to her profession, she spoke in her personal capacity for this article.
“We know what the challenges are. Have you seen a determined Black woman or a determined Black collective? We mean business, and we mean business about our sister, Madam Vice President,” Asamoah said. Not all Black women share Asamoah’s enthusiasm. Since the announcement of her candidacy, critics have shared an array of concerns, including criticism of Harris’ record, a belief that the country isn’t ready for a Black woman president, and doubtfulness that Harris being a fellow Black woman makes her any more likely to bring positive change. Some critics say they mistrust her due to her time as San Francisco’s district attorney and as attorney general in California, skepticism that’s at least partially fueled by misconceptions about her prior prosecutorial and legislative record.
One of those skeptics is Betty Erica from Compton, California, who told Capital B she heard Harris put hundreds of thousands of people in prison, which isn’t true, and that she’s not on Black people’s side. While Erica doesn’t plan on voting for presidential candidates, she’s focusing her energy on down-ballot races.
“She hasn’t shown any leadership amongst the Black community at all in any type of way, except for abortion rights, that’s it,” Erica said. “If anyone supports her, it is because of her Blackness, which is half at that. Other than that, we don’t have any other reason why.”
Nene J., from Watts, California, said she doesn’t think her life will change whether Harris wins or not.
“Because I’ve been living in South Central, I know most of this doesn’t matter for us here. Her election would not change how things are prioritized here,” said Nene, who said she was uncomfortable giving her last name. “We still will have a lot of [homelessness] and will be forced to work in stores.”
If Harris wins and tries to implement policies for Black people, she told Capital B, “it’ll create chaos.”
“They’re going to look at it as a Black woman trying to take their power away,” she added. “The world would rather have a clown than a Black woman.”
The importance of the moment for supporters
There’s a sense of urgency to ensure Harris becomes president, said Latricia Henry, an entrepreneur who joined Black Women for Kamala, a private group of more than 281,000 women, to see the mission through. It’s not only a safe space for women, but a platform to share information and organize ahead of voter registration drives and other events.
Similar to McCallum, Harris’ stance on reproductive rights issues appealed to Henry. She also voiced concerns about Trump and Project 2025, a policy agenda created by the Heritage Foundation for the next Republican president, which she said doesn’t serve Black people.
“We have been up late and up early and doing everything we can to get everything set up and situated so that we can serve the Black women who are ready to get out here on the ground and do what we need to do to protect and elect Kamala Harris,” she said.
Lillian Henny Alexander is already looking forward to this year’s Election Day, which she says will be extra special for her and her family. She and her husband will enthusiastically take their toddler daughters to their polling station in Harris County, Texas, for the first time. There, they will see their mom’s name on the same ballot as Harris.
“I am kind of already emotional thinking about it,” Alexander told Capital B. “The idea of having my two daughters seeing that I’m on the same ticket of potentially our first woman president, and our first Black woman president — it’s too big for me to even think of.”
These mobilized supporters and organizers say their mission is to keep this fresh wind of momentum going until Election Day, focusing on building a multigenerational coalition of people to support Black women.
“We have to remember that by number, Black women are a minority in this country, so even if every single Black woman were to vote for Kamala Harris, there’s still so much more coalition building that we have to do,” McCallum added. “I don’t think we’d get it done without us, but I know that we can’t get it done with only us. I think Black women are optimistic about the power that we can wield and what we can do.”
Staff writers Adam Mahoney and Christina Carrega contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.