There are a number of varying paths to the Oval Office for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump this November. But almost all of those paths require winning over a part of the American population whose voices are too often ignored: Black women.
That’s the takeaway from a new MSNBC primetime special from Symone Sanders Townsend and Melissa Murray, who set out on a cross country trip to hear those voters’ concerns in their own words. And the duo found that while most Black women are likely to tick the box for Harris, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be in the Democratic camp the next time around—especially since Trump likely wouldn’t be on the 2028 ballot.
Premiering on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC and Peacock, Black Women in America: The Road to 2024 is filled with moments that counter prevailing narratives about what Black women are seeking from Washington, D.C. While Townsend and Sanders spoke with prominent figures like actress Kerry Washington, lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund president Janai Nelson—both of whom are featured in an exclusive clip that TVNewser is premiering—they also ventured into communities that aren’t always glimpsed on-camera.
TVNewser asked Townsend and Sanders to share some of what they learned during their trip across America, from the gender gap that’s been visible in polls to the common themes that can be glimpsed in a divided country.
Watch an exclusive clip from Black Women in America: The Road to 2024:
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)
Should Harris win what will it mean for America to see the first Black woman sworn into the presidency on Inauguration Day?
Symone Sanders Townsend: Obviously it will be historic, because a woman would have just broken the glass ceiling and a woman of color. But for the voters that we talked to—particularly some of the Black millennial women—my takeaway was that they were heartened by the history that was going to be made, but it wasn’t history that would be pushing them to the ballot box. The historical nature of her candidacy isn’t, for lack of a better term, enough for them.
Frankly, that’s something I think the Harris campaign realizes, and the vice president herself, because they’re not emphasizing the historical nature of her candidacy. She is making a different pitch and given the conversations we’ve had across the country, I think that pitch is what’s going going to resonate with folks. But obviously, it will be historic if she wins and once she is inaugurated. And I do think that when women are at the table, things change.
