#TalkRadio – July 23: Democracy Will Win! Young Voters’ Reactions to Election 2024 Developments and July 17th John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils

SPEAKERS:

Bryan Sanders: 12:00 PM – 12:57 PM ET
Transformative Justice Coalition Fellow and Freedom Rider; Certified Master Trainer and lead organizer and partnership developer for Wisconsin Voices

Constance Crockett: 12:00 PM – 12:57 PM ET
Transformative Justice Coalition Fellow and Freedom Rider; Resident Care Worker and Youth Event Coordinator at Courage Initiative MKE; Founder/President of the Black Woman’s Emancipation; IG: Connie_acacia; Tiktok: conniesille

Mollie Duffy: 12:00 PM – 12:57 PM ET
Junior at Miami University majoring in Public Administration; Civic Engagement Fellow for the Wilks Institute for Leadership and Service and active member of the Oxford League of Women Voters; National representative for Civic Influencers’ and a Transformative Justice Coalition Fellow

Bryson Powers: 12:00 PM – 12:57 PM ET
Transformative Justice Coalition Fellow, September 2023 Class; Former Administrative Assistant for Walt Merrell, District Attorney for Andalusia, Alabama; Founder of Project Smiles; Former 1st Grade Teaching Assistant for Apple Afterschool Program; Student at Alabama State University, majoring in Secondary Education- English, and on the  University Programs and Activities Board, the Hive Modeling and Self-esteem Organization, and the National Society of Leadership and Success, and President of Street Team, School Marketing Team

INTRODUCTION:

The Igniting Change Radio Show on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time, entitled, “Democracy Will Win! Young Voters’ Reactions to Election 2024 Developments and July 17th John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils”, will be live with Radio Show Co-Hosts and Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) Co-Leaders Attorneys Barbara Arnwine, Esq. and Daryl Jones, Esq. and will feature special guests Bryson Powers, Mollie Duffy, Bryan Sanders, and Constance Crockett. This show is being held at a very historic moment as President Joe Biden has not only decided not to run but has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris who has seemed to secure enough delegates to be the next Democratic presidential nominee. This critical development came right on the heels of TJC and partners’ tremendous John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils advocating for the need for passage of the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Native American Voting Rights Act, and the Washington, D.C. Admissions Act while honoring the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis. Once again, our nation is confronting its quest for a robust and inclusive democracy in these unprecedented times. 

July 17, 2024 marked the 4th anniversary of the death of the Late Congressman John Lewis. Over 85 events were held in total:

• More than 50 broadcast and print media hits nationwide (huge shout out to Public Citizen interns for coordinating with local groups on media outreach). See how to get involved for the Wednesday Post Event Celebration here: https://www.mobilize.us/john-lewis-actions/ 
• DC event sponsored by Mayor Muriel Bowser: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RDGlyeLVMMJL 
• Local events attended by Reps. Emanuel Cleaver and Cori Bush (Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively) and Rep. Kathy Castor (Tampa, Fla.)
• Robust action on social with photos of events on the hashtag #JohnLewisVotingRights

A full summary of the day’s events are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GeXGkPV-1w1yrCbgwA76lB6sQEuqIOk4/view?usp=sharing (some local details may not be in the 35-page report as reports are still received).

Many thanks to the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC), Black Voters Matter Fund, Public Citizen, the League of Women Voters US, the Declaration for American Democracy, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Concerned Black Men and the dozens of other groups involved in making this happen! TJC, Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD Coalition), Black Voters Matter, Public Citizen, The Leadership Conference, and the League of Women Voters, and 85+  individuals, activists, advocates, clergy, union members, teachers, students, community organizations, religious institutions, associations, fraternities, sororities came together in hosting local activities and events across the country to commemorate John Lewis’ death and more importantly his life work to secure voting rights for all people. These important events marking the fourth anniversary of the passing of our Voting Rights Champion, the late Congressman John Lewis, who wrote the first 300 pages of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is named in his honor, were held throughout the nation in cities, townships, and parishes, including marches, votercades, celebration villages, teach-ins, and much more culminating that evening in candlelight vigils. It was most fitting that everyone commemorated his legacy by reaffirming a commitment to passing these most important bills. The following is a press release from Public Citizen on July 18, 2024:

With the ongoing attack on democracy, the events highlighted the urgency of this moment in our history and educated, motivated, and activated communities across the nation to work towards the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Native American Voting Rights Act, and the Washington D.C. Admissions Act. 

The four Transformative Justice Coalition Fellows, who have all graduated from TJC’s Gen Z and Millennial Votes Matter Trainings, will discuss their events they held as well as their thoughts as young leading voices on the other major urgent news that broke over the weekend: on Sunday, President Biden resigned his 2024 Presidential Campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Since then, a lot of questions have been raised and Igniting Change is using its radio time to answer these questions: What does this mean? What’s next? Is there historical precedence? And, as the largest voting bloc, how do Gen Z and Millennials feel about all of the political developments this week? 

It is unprecedented that Vice President Kamala Harris may be the first Black and first South Asian American ever to lead a major party ticket. “When Kamala Harris was sworn in as the vice president of the United States on January 20, 2021, it marked many firsts. Not only did she become the first woman to ever take on the second-highest office in the land, but as a child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she was also the first Black and first South Asian American to do so…In 2004, Harris became the first Black woman to serve as district attorney of San Francisco, and in 2010, she became the first Black woman elected attorney general of California.” (Source: https://www.today.com/popculture/news/kamala-harris-nationality-rcna162749 ) 

“After Biden’s exit, Zoom led by Black women mobilized 44,000 for Harris. The call, which organizers say raised more than $1.5 million, got women feeling energized and galvanized to support the vice president’s surprise bid for president.” Learn more about the call: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/22/kamala-harris-black-women-zoom/ 

And Black men, inspired by Black women, organized a similar call of 35,000 Black men.  

“[Vice President] Kamala Harris is smashing fundraising records as the Democratic Party’s donors — big and small — open their wallets for the vice president in the immediate aftermath of President Joe Biden’s stunning decision to step aside. In total, Harris’ team raised more than $81 million in the 24-hour period since Biden’s announcement, campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said Monday. The massive haul, which includes money raised across the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and joint fundraising committees, represents the largest 24-hour sum reported by either side in the 2024 campaign. Harris’ campaign said it was the largest single-day total in U.S. history…Overall, the Harris campaign said 888,000 grassroots donors made donations over the previous 24 hours; more than 500,000 were making their first contribution of the 2024 campaign cycle.” (Source: https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-fundraising-democrat-president-biden-trump-434a55ea1eb29e5da92cc9b1f9cb401f )

However, a presumptive party nominee dropping out of a race close to an election is not unprecedented, and in fact has not only history but the Democratic party has rules in place for this exact situation and this falls within current election laws as well.

Historically, the 2024 presidential election mirrors the 1968 presidential election in many ways: “The presidential election of 1968 was one of the most chaotic in American history, reflecting a time that was in many ways equally chaotic. At the beginning of the election season, President Lyndon Johnson was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, and as a sitting president, he should have won his party’s nomination without any trouble. But growing opposition to the war in Vietnam, unrest on college campuses, and urban rioting, made him vulnerable. In November 1967, Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination, and that ending the Vietnam War was his central issue. McCarthy mobilized hundreds of student volunteers, who went ‘clean for Gene,’ cutting their hair and going door-to-door for him in New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first primary election. The effort paid off and in March 1968, McCarthy shocked the political world by winning 42 percent of the vote. He did not win the primary, but the size of his support was a defeat to Johnson. Sensing Johnson’s vulnerability, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York entered the race for the Democratic nomination. That, along with renewed opposition to the war in light of the North Vietnamese Tet offensive, prompted President Johnson to announce that he was not running for re-election…In response, Vice President Hubert Humphrey entered the race, but it was too late to run in the primaries. He would have to win delegate support at the nominating convention in Chicago that summer…In the meantime, Kennedy quickly gained immense popularity in the race, carrying primaries in Indiana and Nebraska…Then, Kennedy won the climatic primary in California and was within reach of securing the Democratic nomination. But as he walked off the stage after giving his victory speech in a Los Angles [sic] hotel, Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab nationalist angry about Kennedy’s support of Israel. Coming on the heels of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it contributed to a sense that things were spinning out of control. Several thousand students and anti-war activists descended on the Democratic Convention in Chicago to pressure delegates into repudiating Johnson’s Vietnam policy. In the tense atmosphere that resulted, protestors were beaten by the Chicago police, and the chaos entered the convention hall as the proceedings at times were out of control. In the end, Humphrey received the nomination from an embattled party. The Republican nominating contest was orderly compared to the Democratic one. Richard M. Nixon staved off potential strong opponents such as Michigan Governor George Romney, and swept the Republican primaries, easily winning the nomination at the Republican Convention. Nixon ran as the champion of the “silent majority,” those who rejected the radicalism and cultural liberalism of the time. He chose the conservative governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, as his running mate partly to appeal to Southern conservatives. Placating the South was necessary because Alabama Governor George Wallace entered the election as a third party candidate for the American Independent Party, running on a platform of extreme social conservatism. Nixon led in the polls during most of the general election, but shortly before Election Day President Johnson suspended air attacks on North Vietnam, helping Humphrey close some ground. On Election Day the popular vote was close: Nixon had 31.8 percent, Humphrey had 31.3 percent, and Wallace won 13.5 percent. But Nixon’s Electoral College margin was substantial, 301 to 191 to 46. Despite the closeness of Nixon’s victory, it was a resounding mandate against Johnson and the Democratic Party.” (Source: https://www.pbs.org/johngardner/chapters/5a.html) 

Justin Arnwine, former Igniting Change guest and political historian and commentator, breaks down the parallels between 1968 and 2024 even further, stating:

“In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson was the first presidential candidate to ever receive over 40 million votes and was the Vice President of John F. Kennedy, who was a very popular Democratic president. In 2020, President Joe Biden is the first presidential candidate to ever receive over 80 million votes and was the Vice President of Barack Obama, who was a very popular Democratic president. Both Lyndon Johnson and Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential election during their re-election campaign. If Kamala secures the nomination, she will also be running as the VP of a President who dropped out, just like Hubert Humphrey who was Lyndon’s Johnson’s VP at the time he was President and dropped out. Both Harris and Humphrey are both running against someone who was a former inhabitant of the White House. Humphrey ran against Richard Nixon, who had formerly been VP of 2-term President Dwight Eisenhower; and, if Vice President Kamala Harris secures the Democratic nomination- which she is projected to do- she would be running against former President Donald Trump, who served a full term in office. Both President Lyndon Johnson and President Joe Biden continued to remain President even though they had dropped out of their re-election campaigns and both made statements that are very similar to the effect of wanting to only focus on their duties as President.”

While president, Lyndon Johnson was focused on social equality and passed more Civil Rights legislation than anyone ever, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The party was not unified behind Vice President Humphrey when he ran. President Biden has really listened to historians a lot and has had several meetings with historians and may be one of the things he learned as he had someone review this whole period.

The National Task Force on Election Crises put out a statement answering some questions about the election law impact of Pres. Biden’s decision to suspend his campaign and endorse VP Harris, stating that “what comes next is a matter of party rules and procedures, not state ballot laws.” Their statement begins with “While a major party’s presumptive nominee withdrawing his presidential candidacy is an extraordinary occurrence, rules and procedures are in place to respond to this development.” Read the full statement here: https://electiontaskforce.org/statement-on-the-democratic-party-replacing-its-presumptive-presidential-nominee/ 

“The nearly 4,000 delegates who pledged to support President Biden at the Democratic National Convention remained committed to him even as those in his party called for him to step aside. But now that he has decided not to run for reelection, the delegates are free to vote for any candidate. A majority have pledged to back Vice President Harris. Biden endorsed her on Sunday and many party leaders have rallied behind her as well. The Washington Post is using data from the Associated Press to track how many delegates have pledged to back Harris. She needs 1,976 votes to secure the nomination and been endorsed by many more delegates than that.” Read the source and stay up to date tracking what the delegates and other elected officials have pledged their support for Vice President Harris’ campaign: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/07/22/democratic-delegates-kamala-harris/ 

And as accusations that Democrats engineered a coup to overthrow President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and disrupt the democratic process have exploded on social media (see: www.wired.com/story/gop-reaction-biden-coup/ ), election lawyers have also come together to answer questions to answer whether or not Republicans can sue to make Biden’s name appear on ballots after, “[j]ust a few hours before President Joe Biden announced that he [would]l not seek a second term in the White House, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened lawsuits to try to force Biden to appear as the Democratic candidate on at least some state ballots.” Read more from this informative analysis here: https://www.vox.com/scotus/362186/supreme-court-biden-ballot-harris-lawsuits. The main takeaways? “Though Biden was the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee until he decided to withdraw from the race, he would not legally have become the Democratic nominee until he was formally nominated by delegates to the party’s convention, which is scheduled to begin August 19…[The Suprme Court of the United States’] own decisions benefiting Trump undercut the kind of lawsuits envisioned by Johnson. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Anderson (2024), which reversed Colorado’s attempt to remove Republican Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot because of Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection, also cuts against allowing any state to overrule the Democratic Party’s choice of candidate…Though Speaker Johnson did not identify which state laws might prevent Democrats from nominating Harris instead of Biden as their presidential candidate, the Heritage Foundation, a far-right think tank closely aligned with the GOP, published a memo claiming that three states — Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin — may have laws that will frustrate the Democratic Party’s transition from Biden to Harris. But none of these states’ laws should be read to prevent Harris from appearing as the Democratic Party’s nominee on the 2024 ballot.”

QUESTIONS:

• [Barbara and Daryl will begin the show thanking last week’s guest hosts, Betty Magness and Cameron Barnes, and last week’s special guests Rev. Dr. Cathy Clardy Patterson, Esq.; Devan Vilfrard; Joshua Raby; and, Ja’nise Gentry. They will also thank everyone who participated in the successful July 17th John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils]
• When you first heard about President Biden’s decision not to run, what was your immediate reaction? (non-partisan)
• What was the reaction of your colleagues?
• How did that reaction change when he subsequently endorsed Vice President Harris?
• What has been the reaction of your peers to the Harris announcement?
• Bryson, considering that you were one of the speakers on the Kickoff National Broadcast for the July 17th John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils, how do you see the connection between this major day of advocacy and the new political terrain created by the Democrats?
• Many people were shocked that we were able to, in the middle of the summer, have 86 different John Lewis Activations across 30 states. Why do you think people were so eager to be involved in these pro-voting rights activations?
• Bryan and Constance, you both live in the Milwaukee area, how were you affected by the RNC Convention? Did you watch it? (non-partisan)
• Barbara and Daryl, do you see any parallels that happened this week with the Biden withdrawal and the calls for an open convention in Chicago in 1968?
• Many people have been concerned about a new onslaught of sexism and racism in light of Harris’ expected historic nomination, with some saying its impossible for her to win considering this. How do you, as members of the largest voting bloc- Gen Z and Millennials- respond to these observations?
• People have been talking about the energy that the Harris endorsement has generated. Do you see that energy? How are young Gen Z’s and Millennials to Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy for President?
• Barbara and Daryl, what is required now for the Democrats to settle on a nominee?
• What do you think is the most important grassroots organizing that you think needs to happen in order to ensure strong voter protection and engagement in November 2024?
• Following the successful 85+ events held nationwide for the John Lewis National Day of Action and Candlelight Vigils, the Transformative Justice Coalition has a number of additional initiatives that it will be pursuing, including the August 6th Fundraiser so that we can have a September Gen Z and Young Millennial Training during the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference and a series of Get Out The Vote Concerts for Gen Z and Young Millennials. How do you see these initiatives?
• What other ideas would you like to see groups promote for Gen Z voter engagement and empowerment for this election?
• What are your one-minute final thoughts to our listeners?
• Thank you for all of your hard work. How do our listeners get in contact with you?