Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is running this 30-second ad on television stations in Philadelphia this week at a cost of $127,000, according to AdImpact.
Here’s a look at the ad, its accuracy and its major takeaway.
On the Screen
The ad begins with a Black community organizer identified as Anton, the ad’s narrator, speaking to the camera.
It then cuts to images of Philadelphia — a barbershop, urban rowhouses and a mural, “Women of Germantown,” showing a freed slave who saved a local estate from the British during the Revolutionary War, and other women leaders of the neighborhood’s past.
The spot then cuts to a series of images of Anton with several young Black men wearing construction hats and working to repair a building. They are shown painting, repairing walls and connecting electrical wires.
“Kamala Harris led the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection,” flashes light blue and white text.
As the ad shows an image of a group of Black teenagers walking down the street in hard hats, another block of text flashes on the screen: “Kamala Harris to give our communities safety, opportunity and hope.”
Then the camera cuts back to Anton, who closes with a plea for a “reality check” and a pledge to support her on Election Day.
“Women know how to make things happen,” he says.
The Script
Narrator
“Around here, we have hard-working people that just need a break, whether it’s starting a small business or making housing affordable. Kamala understands that.”
“When people tell me that they don’t believe in Vice President Harris, I point to the things that I’m doing, and when they’re excited about me, you know, working with kids, I said, ‘I can’t do this without that grant that came from the federal government.’”
“She’s had our back since day one. Let’s be honest and get a reality check. Women know how to make things happen and we’re going to stand up with her on Nov. 5.”
Accuracy
Ms. Harris indeed led the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection. President Biden established it in September 2023 to coordinate federal gun policy. He tapped Ms. Harris to oversee the effort.
The ad makes no other verifiable claims.
The Takeaway
The ad is part of a larger effort by the Harris campaign to woo Black men, a traditionally Democratic group that Ms. Harris has struggled to fully coalesce behind her this year. A New York Times/Siena College poll from last week found that Ms. Harris was underperforming President Biden’s support with Black men in 2020 by 15 percentage points — a drop-off that could imperil her ability to win the White House.
This spot is one of two ads so far — the other is running in Michigan — that directly target these voters by touting work on issues that disproportionally impact Black communities, such as gun violence.
Perhaps most notably, it does not shy away from addressing the idea that some Black men might be hesitant to vote for Ms. Harris because she is a woman, closing on a forceful note about women getting things done. President Barack Obama and others have suggested an undercurrent of sexism is to blame for Ms. Harris’s flagging support among Black men.
The post In a Harris Ad, a Black Man Speaks to Black Men on Her Behalf appeared first on New York Times.
