As several southern states begin early voting, the DNC highlighted the importance of Black voters exercising their rights from now until Election Day

Today, the DNC hosted a press call featuring DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, civil rights activist Martin Luther King III, president of the Drum Major Institute Arndrea Waters King, and Prelate of The House of the Lord Church and CEO of the 2016 and 2008 Democratic National Convention Committees Bishop Leah Daughtry to discuss the enormous stakes of the election for the Black community.

Black voters will play a major role in deciding the outcome of this election. On the call, the speakers spoke to the power of the Black vote, the ways Trump and MAGA Republicans have tried to suppress and dilute that power, Trump’s Project 2025 plans to take Black communities backwards, and Vice President Harris’ New Way Forward agenda to give Black communities the tools and opportunity to thrive. 

With early voting already underway in several key battleground states, including Georgia and North Carolina, and the start of early voting in several additional states kicking off next week, including South Carolina, Texas, and Florida, the ‘Souls to the Polls’ call emphasized the importance of Black voters across the country making a plan to vote to defeat Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda and elect Vice President Harris.

Find highlights from the call below

“The choice is clear, folks. Do we want a leader who is driven by hope and optimism? Or do we want a con man who is selling Trump-branded Bibles to line his pockets? I know who I want leading our country, I think you do too. But if we want to send Vice President Harris to the White House, we can’t do it alone. We all need to be part of this movement to empower hope and inspire a better, brighter future. And we need you to do that through action. That action is very simple: vote,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “At the DNC, we’re working to spread that message. We’re running on-the-ground programming to reach young Black voters in battleground states like Wisconsin, where we built an early footprint on college campuses. We invested in voter education and mobilization programs focused on reaching voters of color. 

We’re doing everything we can to reach and educate voters in our community. Because your voices are important and need to be heard. And guess what? Your voice is your vote. In South Carolina, our state motto is ‘While I breathe, I hope.’ But I like to say, ‘While I breathe, I vote.’ Because, my friends, that’s where my hope lies. In our Democratic Party, in Kamala Harris, and in the American people.” 

“In Donald Trump, we have an extreme, self-centered candidate who has an unprecedented level of disdain for democracy and our Constitution. Let’s not forget – this is who Trump has always been: a man willing to hurt others for his own profit and notoriety, including the Black community,” said civil rights activist Martin Luther King III. “Trump tells us our biggest threat as a nation is, quote, ‘the enemy from within.’ Those grounded in history will find such dark language frighteningly familiar. It harkens back to dangerous times when the rights and basic dignity of human beings were systematically – violently – denied by the very institutions responsible for protecting them. There’s no mincing words here. Nothing taken out of context. This is who Trump is. Trump considers any American who doesn’t bend to his will to be his enemy and, by extension, an enemy to our country. But Trump doesn’t stop there. The man who wants to lead this country, be our Commander in Chief, said that he would use the might of the U.S. military to go after American citizens. Let that sink in.”

“As I work on this election I think about what’s at stake. I think of my daughter who has become an activist in her own right and the type of world I want to build for her. One where she is free to decide whether or when to have a family. One where her and her classmates don’t have to worry about gun violence in their schools and communities. One where her opportunities to get ahead in life are not dependent upon her zip code or limited by her color. What does this election mean for little Black girls like her,” said President of Drum Major Institute Arndrea Waters King. “There is so much at stake in this election for communities of color – especially Black women. Trump assures us that he will be a ‘protector’ of women’. The truth is Trump is a threat. Trump ‘proudly’ overturned Roe v. Wade. Because of Donald Trump, my daughter, the grandchild of Coretta Scott King, has fewer rights today than the day she was born. The consequences of this brazen infringement on women’s fundamental freedoms are real and tragic: women across this country are dying under Trump Abortion Bans. And we know these bans disproportionately endanger women of color.”

“Under his Project 2025 agenda, Donald Trump would continue to put Black families last; propping up billionaires and large corporations with tax handouts paid for by working families. Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would force the average middle-class family to pay thousands of dollars extra per year. Economic experts warn that Trump’s touted economic plans would spike inflation and likely trigger a recession by 2025 if implemented. A recent study revealed the Trump-Vance ticket’s Project 2025 agenda would raise taxes on low- and middle-income households by an estimated $5,900 to finance Trump’s tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” said Prelate of the House of the Lord Church Bishop Leah Daughtry. “Imagine the kind of choice, the kind of sacrifices a working family would have to make to compensate for nearly six grand that’s no longer in the bank– all because of Donald Trump.”