NEW YORK, United States – As enthusiasm around the candidacy of American Vice-President Kamala Harris intensifies, Jamaican and other Caribbean nationals across the United States have joined forces in a broad coalition to help elect the first woman as president.

In the days since President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the race on July 21, 2024, and endorsed Harris, Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals have been forming alliances to raise funds and to undertake other tasks to help her campaign. “They realise that the cultural energy of Jamaica and Jamaicans could be a real asset in swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Georgia,” Florida-based attorney and past elector in that state for the Barack Obama 2008 campaign Marlon Hill told the Jamaica Observer in reference to the Harris campaign.

“Since President Biden stepped down, there has been an explosion of interest and organic organising in support of VP Kamala Harris as the presumptive nominee, Hill said.

He argued that VP Harris’ story and connections to Jamaica – through her father Donald Harris who was born in St Ann – is familiar to many Jamaican-Americans, “giving her a tremendous and unique opportunity to connect to a new generation of first time voters”.

While fund-raising has emerged at the top of the list of activities among Jamaicans to help the Harris campaign, emphasis is also being placed on other ways to offer their services.

Stafford Grant, a former member of the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) and a resident of the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, said he is a member of the Caribbean-American United In Support of Kamala Harris for President, a group formed only days after she became the presumptive nominee.

“So far, close to 1,000 people have already signed on, including some from New Jersey,” Grant said, noting that Jamaicans in Pennsylvania are also enthusiastic about the possibility that the popular governor of the state, Josh Shapiro, could end up as Harris’ running mate for vice-president.

“If that were to happen, it would most likely boost turnout among Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals across the state,” said Grant.

“While a big aim of the group is to raise funds to help her campaign, we will also be working to help organise to get out the votes and to educate voters on such issues as early voting and how to deal with an absentee ballot,” added Grant.

In Florida, a similar group, the Caribbean-American Coalition of Florida, “has attracted many volunteers who will work to register new voters, disseminate pertinent information and raise funds for the campaign,” said Janice McIntosh, a member of the group.

Speaking with the this newspaper, Jamaican Irwine Clare Jr said that Harris “has clearly awaken the sleeping giant among us. The groundswell of support is not only from a verbal perspective but from a standpoint that folks have begun to organise”.

He said that the level of enthusiasm surrounding the Harris candidacy has not been seen since former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. “People really feel they can make a difference,” said Clare.

A Caribbean-American alliance for Harris was among a sizeable number of groups that have emerged through Zoom meetings, representing women, men, youth, ethnic communities, political organisations and voting activists, among others.

Jamaican American actress Sheryl Lee Ralph; Kingston-born attorney Marlon Hill; Maxwell Frost, the youngest Congressman who is of Cuban heritage; and New York Congresswoman Jamaican American Yvette Clarke, who represents District Nine covering East Flatbush, Brownsville and Crown Heights largely populated by Jamaican and Caribbean nationals, were among the many celebrities who spoke on the Caribbean
Zoom meeting last Thursday.

Barbara Burke, a retired Suffolk, New York resident, said she “has never contributed to an election campaign but I will definitely be contributing to the Harris campaign. I am just over the moon that not only does she have such Jamaican roots, but that she is supremely qualified, to take on the job of president,” said Burke.

She said that not only has she decided to contribute to the Harris campaign, but that she “is already reaching out to relatives and friends to bring them onboard”. Burke said she is fearful of a second Trump term given several utterances he has made – such as him telling a group of Christians that “you won’t have to vote again after this election and that he will be a dictator only on day one”.

In California, Lyndon Johnson, publisher of the Carib Press newspaper, said the Jamaican community in the state was fully engaged in various endeavours such as fund-raising, and engagements in voter registration to ensure Harris is elected president.

Back in Florida, Denise Grant, a commissioner for the city of Lauderhill, which has a large Jamaican population and who herself is running to become mayor, said Jamaicans and Caribbean nationals there will be doing all they can to assist the Harris campaign.

“We will be working to win over independent voters and to bridge the gap between generations, garnering the support of seniors, millennials and everyone in between,” she declared.

In North Carolina, Jamaicans are employing a template used by former President Barack Obama to ensure maximum support and turnout for Harris.

“We have begun to focus on the young voters, we are using various civic groups, churches and all our other network apparatus to deal with the matter,” Diane Robertson of Manchester in the state told the Observer.

Robertson, who is the southern regional director for the Harris Victory Fund and a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), described the upcoming election as “the most critical, not only in and for the world but especially for small developing islands like Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean”.

“We cannot and will not be leaving anything to chance, and so we will be paying special attention to important issues, such as ensuring that the name of her supporters and others are on the voters list, as well as the location of voting precincts. We are also encouraging people to pay attention to and take advantage of early voting,” she said.

The Caribbean nationals have contributed to the record US$310 million as of August 1, 2024, which the campaign said it had raised, with more than 60 per cent of contributors being first-time donors. Over 170,000 volunteers had since signed up to offer assistance in various roles, the campaign said.