Could Lebron’s work swing an election?
The Electoral College could validate Lebron James’ next great feat.
He has won four NBA championships, started his own elementary school, built a business empire and, now, is taking on the 2020 election.
Having sought to combat voter suppression and mobilize efforts through his group called “More Than a Vote,” James is testing his influence during this election season.
But will James’ work have a meaningful impact, specifically on the election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden? “Yes, of course,” said Larry Huynh, who specializes in digital campaigns as a partner at Trilogy Interactive. “There are a number of states that are coming down to the wire here. … The work to mobilize important groups of voters in the Black community can have real impact on the race.”
Although James has not publicly endorsed Biden, Ethan Scheiner, a professor of political science at the University of California at Davis, said James’ “More Than A Vote” could make a difference in races throughout the country, and not just in battleground states such as his home state of Ohio.
“Let’s put it this way,” said Scheiner, whose expertise includes the interplay between sports and politics, “if Biden is winning as much as the polls seem to be suggesting, it means all of the sudden Biden is competitive in states that ordinarily he wouldn’t be. And the things that Lebron’s group have been doing could help push Biden over the edge in those states.”
That wasn’t the case four years ago for James, the 35-year-old basketball superstar and social activist.
In 2016, he endorsed Hillary Clinton and held a rally for her in downtown Cleveland two days before Election Day. However, Black voter turnout in Ohio fell almost 10% from 2012 and Clinton lost Ohio to Trump.
Nationally, Black voter turnout dropped 6% and for the first time in 20 years, and there was no question which presidential candidate suffered.
During every presidential election since 1964, at least 82% of Black voters have cast their votes for the Democratic nominee, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies & Pew Research Center.
“It’s not enough for a famous person just to say, ‘Go vote,’” said Sherman Singleton, a conservative political consultant who has worked on presidential campaigns for Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Ben Carson.
Getting off the sidelines
James’ new plan began to take shape in February when Maverick Carter, who runs James’ business empire, met with Addisu Demissie, the executive director of “More Than a Vote” who has run successful campaigns for U.S. Senator Cory Booker and California Gov. Gavin Newson. The talks were tabled and resumed May 25 after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota. On June 22, “More Than a Vote,” a non-profit organization, announced its birth via Twitter. “Change isn’t made by watching from the sidelines,” the organization tweeted that day.
James already was off the sideline, playing a key role in getting Dodger Stadium and 20 NBA teams to open their arenas to be used as polling sites. The facilities are giving voters the ability to maintain social distance and reduce COVID-19 risks.
Then his organization got to work. Since June, “More Than a Vote” has mobilized 40,000 poll workers in partnership with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, helped to register Florida voters with felony records and directed resources into swing states.
“It’s hard as hell, because they just don’t believe it,” James said. “They don’t believe that their vote or their message or their minds or their voices matter.”
He has the ability to reach those voters at pivotal time, said Patti Solis Doyle, who served as an advisor to the ObamaBiden campaign during the 2012 presidential election. “We see through some polling that it’s not African-american women that are not showing up in the early vote right now,” Doyle said. “It’s younger African-american men, and so approaching them or talking to them through people who they respect and admire, (it’s) a smart tactic.”
Rather than rely on James’ celebrity, “More Than a Vote” has drawn on musical artists and athletes from the NBA, WNBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, soccer, tennis, softball, including NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Odell Beckham Jr.
“We’ve been very careful to make clear that Lebron was certainly the driving force behind the formation of ‘More Than A Vote,’ but the organization is more than him,” Demissie said. “One of the key ways he has participated actually is bringing other athletes with their own networks, with their own strength in the communities in which they live or play, to the coalition.”