Candidates press to connect with black voters

By Matt Viser and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. March 2 at 3:47 PM

SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. — Sen. Cory Booker gathered here recently with several dozen pastors, sharing a full-plated lunch with some of the state’s most influential religious leaders. Then, in a church gymnasium, taking the stage after a gospel singer, he quoted scripture, talked about a “moral moment” and decried President Trump for “igniting racism.”

More than 2,000 miles away, in a very different setting at the glitzy Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Sen. Kamala D. Harris was greeted at the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit by a crowd that had been swaying and dancing to the beat. She answered questions about when she first knew she had “black girl magic” and noted that the chairwoman of her operation in Iowa — a state that is 91 percent white — is black.

In the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, one with a historically diverse field, including Booker and Harris as prominent African American candidates, black voters have quickly become a highly-sought-after electoral prize. The courtship is playing out in complex ways throughout the early-voting states, a dynamic that will become more visible Sunday as several candidates appear in Selma, Ala., taking part in a remembrance of Bloody Sunday, when civil rights marchers in 1965 were viciously attacked by police as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Booker (D-N.J.) will speak at a church, and, in a twist, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will attend a “unity breakfast” honoring Hillary Clinton, despite ongoing tensions between their two camps. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who’s contemplating a presidential run, is also attending; Harris (D-Calif.), who attended last year, won’t be at the event.

African Americans have long been a pillar of Democratic support, powering candidates from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. But in 2016, Sanders struggled to connect with black voters, and Clinton failed to inspire high African American turnout in the general election.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/candidates-press-to-connect-with-black-voters/2019/03/02/04d02618-3ae5-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html