Black voters in Detroit key for Biden, but can he engage them?
Outreach plan is trying to get apathetic Michigan residents to see differences between parties
DETROIT — Wendy Caldwell-liddell is tired of waiting for change in Detroit.
The country’s largest Black-majority city has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and its ensuing econom- ic fallout. More than 14,200 COVID-19 cases and 1,500 deaths have been con- firmed in the city.
So when the 29-year-old Black mother of two thinks about what’s at stake in the November presidential election, her answer is simple: Everything. She’s determined to help defeat U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Trump won Michigan by less than 11,000 votes,” noted Caldwell-liddell, the co-founder of Mobilize Detroit, a newly formed grassroots organization. “And so, our thought process is, if we can just get an additional 15,000 or 20,000 to show up, that could change Michigan’s trajectory for the presidential election.”
Black voters across Michigan will be pivotal in deciding who will win the state in November. But engaging them at a time of immense uncertainty across the country because of the pandemic and unrest over the effects of systemic racism has been especially challenging.
“A lot of Black folks are having that experience of getting punched in the gut several times in 2020,” said Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, the first Africanamerican in that post. “But I also know that Black folks, Black women in particular, are going to take care of business … Donald Trump is such an existential threat to Black life and Black futures and I think we’re going to show up and make sure that he’s no longer president.”
Both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are battling for support among Black voters across the state. Biden visited Detroit earlier this month and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, was in Flint on Tuesday and will later visit Detroit.
Trump’s campaign has opened an office on Detroit’s west side in the heart of a neighbourhood where local residents say they’ve never seen a Republican presence before. Trump campaign officials said volunteers have been knocking on doors and doing other field activities across the state.
But in a city that has always been a Democratic stronghold, Trump’s presence is troubling to local officials who say they want to see Biden’s campaign have a stronger visibility.
“We don’t have any type of engagement in Detroit, and it’s just mind-boggling,” said Nicole Small, a Detroit Charter Commission member. “And now you have, especially young Black voters and people living in poverty, saying, well, what difference is it going to make if we vote for Biden or if we vote for Trump? They’re being dismissed and overlooked by the Democratic Party.”
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said she’s getting volunteers and staffers ready to knock on doors in the 13th Congressional District, which is largely African-american.
“I tell them this is not just about names on the ballot,” Tlaib said. “This is about the issues that matter to us. It’s about getting closer to ending the broken systems that have been so oppressive and painful for so many of our communities of colour.”
But Black voters who live in suburban counties, like Oakland County resident Lucell Trammer, a 40-year-old father of two, say it’s important for the party to connect with them, too.
“We are in every single demographic, we’re in every single voting bloc, we’re in every single county,” Trammer said, noting that Black voters represent a swath of classes and backgrounds. “We tend to be the bellwether, especially Africanamerican women. I tell people all the time: If you don’t listen to any other voting bloc, listen to African-american women.”