By Sarah Nagem
Marlando Pridgen, who is running for North Carolina’s 7th Congressional district, has a theory about why fewer Black voters are casting early ballots and missing out on the opportunity to support presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of Election Day.
“In the churches,” he said, “there is this mindset of women not having a meaningful place in leadership.”
About 44,500 fewer Black voters in North Carolina cast early or absentee ballots as of Tuesday compared to the same period in 2020, according to political analyst Michael Bitzer. The numbers have prompted fears among Democrats who count on Black voters that the swing state will pick Donald Trump and down-ballot Republicans.
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Former President Barack Obama has voiced concern about what some say is a lack of enthusiasm for Harris among Black men. “Part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” he said during a Harris campaign stop in Pittsburgh.
Pridgen, a Columbus County Democratic who is Black, isn’t the only one in rural southeastern North Carolina who agrees with Obama’s assessment. Tyrone Watson, former president of the Robeson County branch of the NAACP, and Walter Jackson, chairman of the Scotland County Democratic Party, also pointed to long-held skepticism about women leaders.
“Men tend to back away from female leadership,” Jackson said, “not only as president but at job sites.”
While sexism exists across all demographics in America, Pridgen said many young Black men still buy into church elders’ “mindset of women not having a meaningful place in leadership.”
More than 43% of eligible North Carolina voters cast early or absentee ballots as of Tuesday, according to the state Board of Elections. The numbers were lower in Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties, which often see less voter turnout than the rest of the state.
Robeson and Scotland were among the bottom 10 counties for turnout in the 2020 election, according to Democracy NC. Columbus was in the bottom 25 counties.
In Robeson County, where 24% of residents are Black, Watson said political candidates focus so much on winning over Lumbee voters that it’s easy for Black voters to feel neglected. The Lumbee Native American tribe, which has 60,000 members mostly in Robeson County, has made national headlines for its shift from the Democratic party to the GOP. The Republican National Committee opened an office in the county in 2022, and Harris opened a field office there over the summer.
Watson said the challenge is convincing Black residents that their vote matters. Ronnie Patterson hoped to become Robeson County’s first Black sheriff in 2018 but lost the Democratic primary to Burnis Wilkins, the current sheriff, by about 1,300 votes. Watson said Patterson could have won if more Black voters had gone to the polls.
This year, Watson said, some Black residents have told him they lost faith in the political process. Some wonder how Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 but lost the presidential election to Trump because of the Electoral College, he said.
Pridgen, a political newcomer, said young people want to learn more about the democratic process but often don’t know where to turn. Some are fed up with the political divisiveness that has permeated elections.
“When you have polarized areas where Democrats and Republicans are back and forth,” Pridgen said, “there’s a lot of bullying and a lot less conversation.”
Jackson said young people often get political news on social media, where misinformation can spread quickly. He tries to meet people where they are — at barber shops, salons and other gathering places — to talk about issues crucial to Scotland County and beyond.
“We have to protect the soul of our country and our democracy, not just at the national level but the local level,” Jackson said.
While turnout among Black voters in North Carolina has been slow, it’s picking up the pace, Bitzer said Tuesday on X. Early voting ends Nov. 2. A poll by the super PAC Alliance for Black Equality showed support for Harris among young Black men has increased by 10 points since early October.
“I think that a lot of guys are getting the light turned on in their brains and getting out and doing the right thing,” Jackson said.
Pridgen said Black men are not to blame if Harris loses. Others agree, including the son of the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
“This election is not going to be won or lost by the number of Black men that support or do not support (Harris), even though it’s going to be probably razor-thin,” Martin Luther King III told USA TODAY. “You can’t go and say, well, it’s Black men’s fault.”
Watson said it’s crucial for Black residents to know their votes are meaningful, not just for the here and now.
“It matters,” he said, “even if we don’t see results in a year or two. I don’t fight for my generation, I fight for the next generation.”
