More than 160,000 people joined a Zoom call on Thursday night to build support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris among white women, a voter demographic that has supported Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past two elections.
Organised by Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group with about 10 million members, the video call included activists, podcasters, the singer Pink and regular voters, several who said they regretted not doing enough before the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.
A series of video calls supporting Harris's 2024 election bid has been hastily put together after President Joe Biden's announcement on Sunday that he would step aside in the race.
Hours after the announcement, more than 40,000 people joined a Zoom call for Black women supporters. One for Black men on Monday drew over 50,000 people and there have been separate calls for South Asian women, LGBTQ allies, and white men.
The point “is to make sure we are using our economic and political power to help elect Kamala Harris,” Watts said.
“White women have fallen down too many times when it comes to voting for a presidential candidate."
White women supported Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016, 47% to 45%, Pew Research shows. In the 2020 election, an even higher number of white women, 53%, supported Trump.
Democrats believe Republican backing of abortion bans since the 2020 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade will motivate young women to the polls, attract independent women and potentially attract some Republican women to the Democrats.
Trump's campaign is shifting gears to battle Harris, aiming to tie her closer to Biden's policies and the rise of migrants crossing the US southern border.
On Thursday's call for white women, participants discussed strategies, including reaching out to friend groups, fundraising and countering misinformation.
In a sign of where Harris has weak support among left-leaning voters, a "White Men Against MAGA" video call on Wednesday that focused on battling Trump's Make America Great Again movement attracted only around 1,000 attendees.
