Politics
Harris and Trump campaigns are targeting Black men, but many say they feel neglected
Three construction foremen taking a break in an alleyway on a recent Wednesday are among the most coveted voters in the country: middle-aged Black men and union members, living in Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state.
They don’t sound excited about it.
“Whatever president we’ve had in office for the past 42 years, they’ve never affected anything in my household,” said Desmond Chandler, who is 43 and lives in Philadelphia.
Vice President Kamala Harris must win big in large cities with large Black populations to overcome Donald Trump’s advantages with rural white voters. Above, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in 2022.
(Ryan Collerd / Getty Images)
His friend Mike Gray was just as disillusioned. Vice President Kamala Harris is a “puppet for the white people,” but he would never vote for former President Trump, who manufactured his neckties in China, used nonunion labor for construction projects and carves up the electorate with terms like “Black jobs,” he said.
Interviews in recent weeks with more than two dozen Black men across two of the most critical battleground states — Pennsylvania and Georgia — offer a broader context for what polls have shown. Harris is likely to win a commanding majority of Black voters, despite extensive efforts by the Trump campaign to entice Black men in particular.
But Harris still has work to do in what is expected to be an exceedingly tight election. She needs to expand her majority among Black voters even more, to match President Biden’s winning formula from 2020. As importantly, she also has to motivate people like Chandler and Gray to show up and cast ballots.
A recent Howard University survey of Black voters in seven battleground states showed Harris leading Trump 82% to 12%. Other surveys found Harris with slightly smaller leads, including an August Pew poll showing a 77%-to-13% lead at the national level and a Suffolk University survey of Black voters in Pennsylvania conducted in August showing a 70%-to-9% lead.
No credible survey shows Trump within striking distance. But Biden won Black voters by an even larger margin in 2020 — 92% to 8% at the national level, according to a post-election analyis by Pew.
The biggest gap? Black men between the ages of 18 and 49 are Harris’ weakest link, according to the Howard survey, which found they supported her 75% to 16%.
The difference may seem small but could be decisive, given the close margins in the states that decided the 2016 and 2020 elections, and the need for Harris to win big in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit and other big cities with large Black populations to overcome Trump’s advantages with rural white voters. Black voters have tended to make their choices closer to the election in prior elections, giving Harris room to grow.
Biden and Harris won in 2020 with focused efforts to drive up Black voter turnout in the final weeks, especially in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where the state also elected Raphael Warnock as its first African American senator. Black voters made up about a third of the eligible voters in Georgia and about a tenth in Pennsylvania.
In interviews, Harris’ supporters most often cited Trump’s character and the belief that Harris’ economic policies would be better for working-class people. Those who expressed doubts about Harris were most likely to bring up inflation and, in some cases, Harris’ career as a prosecutor or questions about her racial identity, which Trump has brought up in an attempt to divide her support.
Harris, whose father was from Jamaica and mother was born in India, has written that she was raised by her mother to identify as Black. She attended Howard, a historically Black university, and has emphasized her ties to the powerful Black sorority network.
Gray, the 49-year-old construction foreman, has voted for Democrats in prior elections, including Biden in 2020, but said he is not sure whether he will cast a vote this time. He is frustrated with inflation, especially child-care expenses.
Mike Gray, a 49-year-old labor foreman in Philadelphia, said he is uncertain whether he will vote for Harris but definitely won’t vote for Trump.
(Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times)
Like most voters, he hears the news in snippets.
For example, he did not know about Biden’s and Harris’ failed efforts to cap childcare expenses at 7% of income as part of their signature 2021 spending bill. Harris is trying to get the word out, pledging in a rare interview with the National Assn. of Black Journalists in Philadelphia last week to revive the plan if she is elected.
Nor was Gray excited by the potential history of electing the first Black female president. “Man, we already had one Black president,” he said, referring to Barack Obama. “If we have another one, great.”
More than a fifth of Black Americans, especially younger people, are “rightfully cynical” — detached from politics because their experience makes them feel like government cannot improve their lives — and are the least likely group of Black Americans to vote, according to the 2024 Black Values Survey, which measured views on social trust, perceptions of power and racial solidarity.
“It’s like a big game,” said Brian Clark, a 32-year-old security guard in Philadelphia who said he prefers Trump but will not vote for either candidate.
Brian Clark, a 32-year-old security guard from Philadelphia, said he prefers Trump but likely won’t vote because it’s all “a big game.”
(Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s just about one placebo or the other placebo,” said Cassius Martello, a 23-year-old social media consultant from Gwinnett County, who said he will vote for Harris.
Harris is on firmer footing with older and more educated Black voters, especially those who identify with the legacy of the civil rights era. Many are especially turned off by Trump’s character and rhetoric, and expressed excitement about the prospect of a Black woman leading the nation.
Robert Mitchell, a 65-year-old human resources director in Atlanta, finds it shocking that any Black man would consider Trump, who is running ”to keep himself out of jail,” or that any voter could say they are undecided at this point.
Robert Mitchell, 65, a human resources director in Atlanta, is excited to vote for Kamala Harris.
(Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t know if it’s the thing where — being misogynistic — men just not seeing a woman in charge,” he said. “I do not get it. I’m looking so forward to a woman being president!”
He talked about abortion access for his daughter and granddaughter “if something ever happened to them” and about Trump’s own history of racial incitement, pointing to the full-page ad Trump took out in 1989 demanding the death penalty for five Black and Latino boys who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman jogging in New York.
Ivan Turnipseed, a 55-year-old hospitality professor in Philadelphia, is less surprised at the resistance to Harris, despite his own enthusiastic support. He sees it in his own family in Mississippi.
Ivan Turnipseed, 55, a hospitality professor in Philadelphia, comes from a conservative family. He supports Harris but believes his father, a pastor in Mississippi, will likely vote for Trump.
(Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t know whether it’s just the whole idea of a man being head of the household from a religious perspective, again, from a father, who’s a minister,” who he expects will vote for Trump, he said.
He noted that Black men won the right to vote and served on the Supreme Court before women of either race had the chance.
“This is what we do as a country,” Turnipseed said. “We can get past like, ‘OK, well, maybe, you know, this Black guy will be OK,’ but it’s hard for us. We have whole institutions that don’t allow women to lead.”
Misogyny, however, doesn’t altogether explain Black men’s resistance to voting for Harris. Some Black men who expressed reservations about voting for Harris this year also held back from voting for Biden in 2020.
Polls show Trump is unlikely to capture a large swath of Black male support where it matters, in key battleground states. His comment questioning Harris’ racial identity appeared more geared toward depressing turnout than winning votes. But even a handful of Democratic defections could matter.
And the reasons Black voters are open to supporting Trump sound almost identical to those of other supporters.
Bobby Wilcox, 47, a tax appraisal clerk in Atlanta, is voting for Trump.
(Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)
“American citizens, we did very well under the Trump administration,” said Bobby Wilcox, 47, a tax appraisal clerk in Atlanta. “Prices weren’t as high, and people could afford housing. Now people — particularly seniors — are struggling.”
“He’s for the people,” said Sam Williams, 37, a manager at a Chick-fil-A in downtown Atlanta who also works at Jersey Mike’s Subs. He took on a second job in the last year as he struggled to pay his $1,800 monthly rent.
He’s not interested in Harris, he said. “I just don’t feel her vibes.”
Bierman reported from Philadelphia, Jarvie from Atlanta.
new video loaded: Jan. 6 Rioter Hired by Pentagon
transcript
transcript
Jan. 6 Rioter Hired by Pentagon
Elias Irizarry, who pleaded guilty to climbing through a broken window at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, now works for an office responsible for uncovering and defending against terrorism plots at the Pentagon.
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“Full pardon or commutation?” “Full pardon.”
By Alisa Shodiyev Kaff
June 4, 2026
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Democrats splintered over a resolution seeking to block the U.S. from assisting Israel’s war against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, on Thursday.
The measure, offered by progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., would require President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from Lebanon. For months, Israel and Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group and Iranian proxy, have been at war in southern Lebanon, but the United States has not joined the conflict.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., rejected the measure. Critics argued the resolution could aid Hezbollah and potentially hamstring U.S. military operations in the country.
Tlaib’s resolution failed 92-324, with more than half of House Democrats joining nearly all Republicans to vote it down.
The Lebanon war powers resolution divided Democrats, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., joining Republicans in rejecting the measure. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg)
REP RASHIDA TLAIB MOVES TO BLOCK US OPERATIONS IN LEBANON BUT IGNORES HEZBOLLAH
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., an Israel critic, was the lone Republican to support Tlaib’s measure. Meanwhile, Reps. Derek Tran, D-Calif., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn., voted present.
House Democratic leaders said shortly before the vote they would oppose Tlaib’s resolution and work with the progressive lawmaker on a narrower measure exempting some U.S. military operations in the country. Their statement also denounced Hezbollah as a “violent terrorist organization” and a “sworn enemy of the United States.”
Tlaib, who has accused Israel of committing “ethnic cleansing” in Lebanon, did not mention Hezbollah in her resolution. She and other proponents of the measure also avoided discussing the Iranian proxy force during heated floor debate over the measure.
Republicans highlighted the omission and accused the legislation’s supporters of serving as “proxies for Hezbollah.”
“Apparently they don’t want to see Israel killing Hezbollah, even though it’s Hezbollah that is killing Israeli children, Israeli adults, Israeli elders,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., said Wednesday, referring to his Democratic colleagues.
Tlaib asserted that her resolution would only affect U.S. forces actively engaged in hostilities. Republicans, however, disputed that claim and suggested it would hurt U.S. efforts to counter Hezbollah.
“It doesn’t say anything about [whether] you can keep the Marines that are in the embassy,” Mast said, referring to the U.S. embassy in Beirut. “That’s a pretty big oversight. It doesn’t say anything about whether we can keep United States armed forces that are training missions with the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces]. Again, pretty big oversight.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, attempted to bar U.S. forces from joining Israel’s war in Lebanon. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg)
RASHIDA TLAIB HIT WITH HOUSE CENSURE THREAT, ACCUSED OF ‘CELEBRATING TERRORISM’ IN PRO-PALESTINIAN SPEECH
The debate turned personal when Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, linked Tlaib to Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization … and its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent,” the Ohio lawmaker said, referring to Tlaib.
A shouting match between the two then broke out, with Tlaib demanding that Miller’s remarks be stricken from the record.
The presiding chair ultimately complied with her request, but Miller doubled down on his remarks.
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“Yes, I said it. I own it, and I stand by it,” Mast said on behalf of Miller on the floor.
Tlaib’s failed war powers resolution comes as Iran has sought to tie Israel’s invasion of Lebanon to its ceasefire negotiations with the United States.
Hezbollah, which has long helped Iran project power in the region, rejected a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s government Thursday.
WASHINGTON — Initial efforts in the Senate failed Thursday to block the $1.8-billion fund that the Trump administration has sought to establish to pay people who claim the government wronged them, though further attempts were likely to come Thursday afternoon.
Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic amendment to ban the payout fund and then Democrats killed a Republican amendment, which would have prohibited the use of federal money for the fund but would have sent $1.7 billion to the Justice Department’s fraud division.
It was the second effort in Congress to rebuke President Trump in two days, following the House vote Wednesday to rein in Trump’s war powers in Iran.
The dueling amendments were proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). They were attached to the reconciliation bill that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, a high priority for Republicans.
The votes came as the Senate began a “vote-a-rama,” during which lawmakers were expected to propose a stream of amendments to the immigration bill on various topics.
The Trump administration’s plan for the payment fund — widely seen as a way for Trump to compensate his political allies, including those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — set off particular ire from some GOP lawmakers.
The plan has fueled growing unrest within parts of Trump’s party over his governance, compounded by the president’s endorsement of primary challengers to Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), which angered some Republican senators.
Cassidy, who lost his primary and has since voiced strong opposition to Trump’s $1.8-billion fund, became a key player in the Thursday votes, voting down Schumer’s amendment but supporting Tillis’.
On Wednesday, Cassidy joined with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to argue in a court filing that the $1.8-billion fund circumvents Congress’ authority and violates the Constitution’s spending and appropriations clauses.
“It is an unconstitutional attempt to spend the People’s money without Congressional approval,” Cassidy and Booker wrote in an amicus brief filed in the federal court case challenging the fund.
The fund was created by the Justice Department to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Trump and his sons agreed to drop their personal lawsuit against the government in exchange for the creation of the $1.776-billion fund. Critics immediately questioned the plan, and it drew a rare backlash from Republicans.
In late May, GOP senators derailed plans to vote on the immigration bill over their displeasure with the payout fund and with Trump’s desire to use taxpayer funds for his planned White House ballroom. Senate Republicans removed the ballroom funding from the immigration package Wednesday, another setback for Trump.
The Trump administration sought to back away from its plans for the fund this week, following bipartisan outcry and a federal court ruling that temporarily blocked any payouts from the fund. Acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said Tuesday the administration would end its plans to move ahead with the concept.
But Trump on Wednesday told reporters he didn’t know whether the fund was dead, calling it “a beautiful thing.”
After Schumer proposed the first amendment to ban the fund Thursday morning, the Senate came to a standstill as three key Republican senators deliberated. Schumer framed his effort to ban the fund Thursday as a way to force a referendum on Trump’s plan.
The amendment “offers Republicans a choice: Do you support Donald Trump’s $2 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, or do you want to protect the American people and their paychecks?” Schumer said on the Senate floor before the vote.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) urged Republicans to reject the amendment, saying Democrats were planning to “play so many games” on Thursday during the marathon session.
“We are going to fund immigration enforcement and border patrol, and I urge my Republican colleagues to stay united on that singular mission,” Moreno said.
The amendment failed after Cassidy voted against it. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska voted in favor.
Schumer’s amendment was uniformly supported by Democrats, including California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.
Tillis, who also voted against Schumer’s amendment, immediately proposed his amendment. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) urged Democrats to oppose it, saying that the proposal would create “a new slush fund” by giving the money to the Justice Department.
“We heard over the last 48 hours that the acting attorney general said that this fund’s not moving forward. All this amendment does is codify what I believe the policy of the DOJ is,” Tillis said on the floor before voting began on his amendment. “This [fund] is unpopular, this administration has said they’re not moving forward with it; this is an opportunity for us to put it to bed.”
Responded Merkley: “Taking one slush fund and eliminating it and then creating a new slush fund still under control of the attorney general is not the way to go. The way to go is to get rid of these slush funds altogether.”
Trump has faced a recent string of failures, including the House vote Wednesday, a court ruling to remove his name from the Kennedy Center and a record-low approval rating among Americans as concern rises about economic issues, gas prices and Trump’s war with Iran.
On Wednesday, Trump lashed out against the four Republicans who backed the House war powers resolution, calling it “an unpatriotic thing” to do and calling the vote “meaningless.”
“They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves. MAGA!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote.
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos, in Washington, contributed to this report.
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