Critical Voters
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden Earn Different Pockets of Black Support
Harris surpasses Biden with CBC endorsements, but the former vice president is still ahead by every conceivable national metric with black voters.
Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photos Getty
The primary-within-the-primary for black support is underway.
On one side, there’s the Congressional Black Caucus, the preeminent group of African-American power brokers representing their districts in Washington. On the other, rank-and-file black voters across the country. And in a field with nearly two dozen contenders, only two candidates are leading in either camp.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is ahead by every conceivable national metric with black voters, a critical demographic essential to winning the Democratic nomination in 2020. But he has a direct competitor for support among Washington’s influential political class in Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the only black woman competing for the White House who edged ahead of him this week with endorsements from the CBC.