JONESBORO, Ga. — Before Kamala Harris stepped up to the dais at Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro, Georgia, to encourage the Black faith community to vote on Sunday at a “Souls to the Polls” mobilization event, Rev. Raphael Warnock addressed the congregation.
The senator denounced the idea that Black men were going to vote for Donald Trump in droves, like Trump’s campaign was suggesting, and he warned that apathy from the critical Democratic base of Black voters could doom the Harris campaign.
Harris personally echoed the message in a nearly-full two-story church, showing the two politicians share an understanding that this is the kind of place they need to prioritize in the last three weeks of the campaign. The outreach to Black churches wasn’t limited to where Harris traveled: Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, also attended church service Sunday in Michigan, evidence that this is part of a broader strategy.
While there’s reason to think that Black churches as institutions have lost their special power to corral the Black vote over time, Warnock certainly doesn’t buy it. Or he at least believes that Black churches still need to be a part of the electoral process.
“It would be political malpractice not to engage the church. She knows this personally,” Warnock said in an interview Sunday with NOTUS, calling it “significant” for Harris to engage with churches now, with such few days left before Election Day. “When you see Kamala Harris, you’re talking about a member of the Black church talking to the Black church.”
Harris spoke to that firsthand experience during appearances at two separate churches Sunday, about 30 miles apart. She spent some four hours in church in front of voters, where she repeatedly tied her personal story of growing up in a Baptist church in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she connected the teachings she learned there to the current political moment.
She said her longtime San Francisco pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, worshipped with her Sunday morning, in addition to the services she attended.
“There is so much at stake right now,” Harris said at the Divine Faith church. “Our strength is not based on who we beat down, as some would try to suggest. Our strength is based on who we lift up. And that spirit is very much at stake in these next 16 days.”
Harris said it’s a race that comes down to whether you want a leader to prioritize “compassion and justice” or “chaos, fear and hate.” She made the case to voters that while they might not be content with the state of politics, that’s not a reason to sit out.
“For sure if you don’t vote, nothing will happen,” Harris said at Divine Faith Ministries International, the second of the two churches she visited, after Stevie Wonder sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
The race in Georgia, where early voting has already started, is razor thin. And public polls have Trump in the lead. In an effort to replicate President Joe Biden’s narrow win in 2020, Harris has dropped into the state repeatedly in recent weeks, looking to keep it competitive. And she’s making a bet on where those voters are: In Georgia, 74% of adults say they believe in God, according to Pew Research Center. And 17% of those who identify as Christian identify as historically Black Protestant.
But nationwide, churches that have historically been a base for Democrats’ get-out-the-vote efforts have lost membership. More young people than ever before say they aren’t religious. Data from the American Enterprise Institute reported that more than a third of Gen Z identified as religiously unaffiliated in 2021. And so, a surefire stop on the trail for Democrats because of its access and influence over Black voters has, in some ways, lost its potency.
Many of these churches exist in a precarious place now, driving Democrats to look outside of them to galvanize young Black voters. This has caused ripples throughout the political world. Pastors across the country have privately grumbled to Democrats at the lack of deeper engagement from the campaign, according to two Democratic operatives familiar with the dynamics. Harris’ appearances this weekend were, in part, an answer to those concerns, said one of those operatives. (The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
“You got to go to the Black church,” said the second operative, who was happy with Harris’ outreach on Sunday. “[Harris] is talking about helping people, and Donald Trump is talking about how big Arnold Palmer’s dick is.”
In his interview with NOTUS, Warnock wouldn’t say whether he’d urged the campaign to spend more time reaching out to churches. But he, along with other Democrats, was pleased with the optics that emerged from the weekend.
At both churches Harris visited, the pastors cast Harris as the person born to take on this moment, and she was welcomed with open arms.
“This is not a rally,” said Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. But still, he was glad to accept a visit from the vice president. “Black people are getting ready to elect the next president of the United States.”
At New Birth, the parishioners inside the megachurch extended their right hands to pray over her. And at Divine Faith, “Kamala” chants broke out after she delivered a shortened version of her stump speech with Bible verses sprinkled throughout.
But there’s also doubt among Democrats about how much movement can be made through the church to reach the voters they need most. Black people who tend to go to church are already highly likely to vote and vote Democratic, according to operatives NOTUS spoke with in September.
Still, Warnock, who has hosted Harris at his own church repeatedly, said the race symbolizes “a clash between two very significant views, different views of the faith” between Democrats and Republicans. And that’s why it’s important for Harris to show up.
“I think it’s of single importance that she is highlighting the voice of the church at the moment when we are seeing Evangelical churches support Donald Trump, who is on the wrong side of [history],” Warnock said.
At the Divine Faith event, Pastor Allison Marks called Harris’ presence “a statement,” even though she wished to hear more of Harris’ vision for the country. “This says a lot because this isn’t an ideal area or place for her to necessarily be, so I think it just speaks volumes.”
Asked by NOTUS if Harris should spend more of her next two weeks at the church, Marks said, “Considering the opponent speaks very widely from a religious stance, however weird it is, I don’t think it would hurt at all.”
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Jasmine Wright is a reporter at NOTUS. Tinashe Chingarande contributed to this report.