democracy docket: Black Voters in Arizona Could Be the Reason Harris Wins in 2024
by sena mohammed
november 2, 2024
A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting with several Black leaders in Phoenix when someone asked: Why is it that when political candidates visit Arizona, they host events targeting Latinx voters and white voters, but never in our memories has anyone hosted an event specifically for the Black community? Don’t they know Black voters may just be the key to winning Arizona?
It’s the truth.
Pundits and politicians have, in recent years, spent a lot of time talking about the Black vote in Georgia and the Latinx vote in Arizona. Rarely do they focus on the Latinx vote in Georgia and the Black vote in Arizona — but they should.
Yes, winning votes is a numbers game and candidates want to target the largest groups in every state — but let’s not forget that President Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes. There are more than 20 times that many Black voters in Arizona — enough to win the state by a landslide. With Kamala Harris facing the closest presidential race in 60 years, Democrats can’t afford to overlook the power of Black Arizonans.
Nationally, Black Americans have some of the highest voter turnout rates of any demographic — and in recent years, that’s also been true in Arizona. There are more Black elected officials holding public office in Arizona today than ever before, largely because Black voters turned out in record numbers in 2020. Along with several other grassroots groups, my organization, Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona, led major canvassing and organizing efforts that energized our communities to make their voices heard and their desires for change known.
If population trends tell us anything, the power of Arizona’s Black vote will only be stronger this year than ever before, and it will continue to build for years to come.
For one thing, Gen-Z is the most politically engaged generation in history, and nearly half of the 8 million new voters who have aged into the electorate since 2022 are young people of color. Second, outside of Houston and Dallas, Maricopa County has the fastest-growing Black population of any city in the U.S. And third, the most recent data on Black entrepreneurship shows that the number of Black-owned businesses in Phoenix is growing rapidly, despite persistent barriers to startup capital and financing.
For these reasons and more, political candidates should wake up to the fact that Black Arizonans are building the economic and civic power in this battleground state to sway entire presidential elections.
