As the presidential election draws nearer, the White House is ramping up efforts to target Black voters. The Root has exclusively learned that the Democratic National Committee will be running advertisements across 15 historically Black colleges and universities in battleground states during Black History Month.
The ads will target students at Florida A&M University, Albany State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and North Carolina Central University, and several other HBCUs.
The new slate of ads will focus on Biden administration accomplishments Democrats hope will land well with younger Black voters — including the $137 billion in student debt cancellation and the administration’s $7 billion investment in HBCUs.
The administration is also seeking to draw a contrast with Biden’s likely general election opponent, former President Donald Trump. The ad notes that “MAGA Republicans” are “white-washing American history” and “banning abortion nationwide.”
The ads will run Thursday, Feb. 15, and continue for two weeks.
HBCUs have historically been the site of Democratic mobilization efforts. Throughout the last two election cycles, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Howard University alumnus, repeatedly held campaign events on HBCU campuses, drawing on a large base of support for both herself and the President.
Now more than ever, the administration is in dire need of energizing young Black voters to not only go to the polls but do the organizing that has traditionally helped to elect Democrats.
The most recent polling of young Black voters from NBC News and GenForward suggests that Biden’s support among that demographic has dipped significantly.
Biden’s age has also increasingly become a part of the conversation, particularly in light of a Special Counsel report that questioned his mental acuity. The Biden-Harris administration’s financial support of the Israel, in the midst of their bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, and Biden’s recent comments on abortion, have also landed them out of favor with some young voters.
Yet the White House seems hopeful that they can make this campaign targeting HBCUs about the work they’ve done to support students and marginalized communities in the United States. And, perhaps more importantly, they’re looking to contrast themselves with the reality of another Trump Presidency.