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Kamala Harris
Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Black Operatives Are Furious Over How Kamala Harris’ Campaign Is Spending Money

Minority-owned firms are frustrated the campaign is relying on white-owned firms for spending, and they’re worried that could ultimately hurt the campaign with voters of color.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, was frustrated after a call with Kamala Harris’ campaign early last month. He and others on the call felt they hadn’t gotten a clear answer to something that has mystified leaders in Congress, co-chairs of the campaign and donors: Why did it seem like minority-owned political firms that typically work with Democratic campaigns aren’t getting as much of the record-breaking Harris campaign money as white-owned firms?

“If Black voters are the base, it should be Black vendors telling the story,” said one person familiar with the conversation with the nonpartisan group’s leader. And by the time the call finished, “We still didn’t really have any clear answers on anything.”

The conversation with Quentin Fulks, Harris’ principal deputy campaign manager, though cordial, was so far from any resolution that Johnson vowed to take the issue higher, three people told NOTUS — to someone who could answer how money is being spent and whether it’s being spent equitably.