2024 has a been a hell of a year and yesterday things escalated to a new level.
President Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race after previously taking a defiant tone toward those suggesting that he should do so. The surprising declaration came in the wake of “Democrats” like Senator Joe Manchin coming out publicly to plead with a seemingly ailing Biden to remove himself from the campaign.
President Biden didn’t chunk a deuce before giving a full-throated endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to take the reins and defeat Donald Trump in November.
Despite the “Where’s Waldo?” criticism that VP Harris has received over the course of the Biden administration, the news of her potential candidacy (We say “potential” because there is still a process that has to take place for her to become the official candidate. However, it’s a bit of a foregone conclusion) was met with extreme excitement by Black women who appeared even more invigorated to mobilize with the idea of “President Kamala Harris” standing before them.
An organization called Win With Black Women held an open Zoom call that moderator Jotaka Eaddy says reached 40,000 viewers at its peak.
The call garnered so much support that $1.5 million was raised in just 3 hours!
Skepticism around whether or not VP Harris can defeat Trump is divisively deep, however, this type of fundraising has to be noted as a sign of a base that is more ready to fight now than they were with an octogenarian white man with waning support from inside the party.
It isn’t just organizations like Win With Black Women who made it rain on them Joes. According to Newsweek’s reporting, another grassroots operation called ActBlue took in donations that tallied $46.7 million within a business day’s time of Biden’s big announcement. Several hours later, it was reported by KTVU that the number had risen to $60 million.
Time to punch the clock. Election day is right around the corner.