Within nation’s largest Black Protestant group, what's driving support for Harris campaign

BALTIMORE — Shortly before Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid flipped the script for the November election, Phoenix pastor Rev. Warren Stewart, Sr. sought counsel from his friend the Rev. Amos Brown, a San Francisco pastor and longtime faith mentor to Harris.

As Stewart expressed deep unease about former President Donald Trump’s chances against President Joe Biden, especially in key swing states like Arizona, Brown encouraged Stewart to be patient and stay hopeful. Brown and Stewart are both affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA, a historically Black denomination.

“We were in despair,” Stewart said in an interview with The Tennessean, a USA TODAY Network partner, during the National Baptist Convention, USA annual session here in Baltimore. “People who support justice, people of color and even poor white people had very little hope because Donald Trump is an anti-justice candidate.”

But Stewart said that changed quickly, just as Brown predicted, when Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris. Stewart said he was preaching during a Sunday service when the news broke. As part of this rapid change, Stewart would find himself personally meeting with the Democratic presidential nominee when Harris visited Arizona for a rally.

“Now, everybody is excited,” Stewart said. “We have a woman of color who is a Christian, who is a Black Baptist. I know her pastor. So, that has given hope and inspiration.”

Historically Black churches have long been a reliable force in turning out votes for Democrats through voter registration drives and the “souls to the polls” initiative. Biden in 2020 and former President Barack Obama both saw enthusiastic support among Black voters during their successful runs for office.

Now, as the presidential race heads into its final stretch, Harris' candidacy is starting to benefit from the excitement Stewart and others are feeling. An exclusive late-August poll from USA TODAY and Suffolk University found Harris leading Trump nationally 48%-43% — a lead fueled by support from Hispanic, Black and young voters.

But beyond that historical alignment or an opposition to Trump, support for Harris among Black clergy and lay leaders is born of deeper, more personal reasons. Harris’ candidacy bears the potential for a Black woman with a familiar religious background to ascend to the nation’s highest office.

“It’s like someone who is part of your family,” said Zena Simmons, who traveled to the Baltimore meeting from her home in New Jersey. “What excites me is that she looks like me.”

The National Baptist Convention, USA, often known as the NBCUSA, is one of four major Black Baptist denominations in the U.S. and has between 5.2 million and 7.5 million members nationwide. It has a long legacy on issues such civil rights, criminal justice, housing, and has invested in voter rights initiatives. Thousands of clergy and lay leaders from National Baptist churches attended the convention’s annual session at the Baltimore Convention Center last week, some of whom shared their reflections with The Tennessean about Harris and the November election.

Simmons, who was wearing a “Kamala Harris for president” shirt last week during the denomination's meetings, serves as an usher at her local congregation. In addition to serving her church, Simmons said she also helps the community election office by volunteering as a poll worker.

There are specific issues driving Simmons’ interest in Harris and the November election. But Simmons also said she’s engaged with the political process as a matter of principle, a message that Simmons said her church also emphasizes.

“At my church, it’s every election,” said Simmons, referencing voter registration and voter turnout initiatives. “Because every election is going to count for the children and it’s going to count for the future.”

Related and recent: Outgoing head of largest Black Protestant group condemns bigotry in US, urges voter turnout

Voting with conscience

Messaging around voter turnout within the National Baptist Convention, USA isn’t directly correlated to the widespread support for Democratic candidates, though the two affect one another.

“We don’t tell them what to do, but why they should do it,” said the Rev. Thomas Morris, Sr., a Mississippi pastor and attorney.

Morris, a member of the NBCUSA Board of Directors and the chair of a committee that oversaw an election for leadership in the denomination, said the convention doesn’t endorse candidates. And he said National Baptist leaders don’t dictate how its churches should discuss voter registration, which is largely due to the denomination’s belief in local church autonomy and its bottom-up hierarchy.

Rather, national and state leaders in the National Baptist Convention, USA offer guidelines and resources for clergy to use in sermons or to develop voter education programs and events. That work became an even greater priority under the convention’s outgoing president, Mississippi pastor Rev. Jerry Young, who directed a social justice commission to create a resource book on voter mobilization.

“We must be informed and involved in the political process so that we make wise decisions and elect persons who have the interest and fortitude to be men and women of moral integrity, conviction and character,” said the social justice commission in the resource book, published ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

With those guiding principles in mind, Morris said for him personally supporting Harris is “an obvious choice.”

“When you have the type of choice we’re confronted with today, I think it speaks for itself,” Morris said. “When you have someone who’s story is similar to yours…I see it as a slam dunk.”

Young’s concerted push around voter engagement raised the denomination’s profile to Biden, who visited Young’s church in 2020, and Harris, who addressed the National Baptist Convention, USA's annual session in 2022. Also, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the convention at its 2016 annual session during her presidential bid. Young delivered an opening benediction during the Democratic National Convention in 2020.

The Harris-Walz campaign had a presence at the convention’s annual session this year, with the Rev. Michael McClain, a faith outreach director for the campaign, manning a booth in the exhibitor hall. McClain was giving away “Harris-Walz” signs and answering visitors' questions about Harris’ candidacy.

“We’re well received,” McClain, a former pastor of an NBCUSA-affiliated church in South Carolina, said in an interview. “They’re glad to see us.”

A few weeks prior, McClain did the same at gatherings for other historically Black denominations, such as the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the AME Zion Church. Harris recorded a video to the AME Church for the Nashville-based denomination’s recent general conference in Columbus, Ohio.

McClain said he also hosts a weekly call with faith leaders to provide information and to encourage voter engagement.  At the NBCUSA's annual session and the other gatherings of historically Black denominations, McClain said the sentiment is consistent.

“They express their support for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” McClain said. “As a matter of fact, they express their undying support for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.”

National Baptists explainer: National Baptist Convention, USA: What to know about largest Black Protestant group in US

Hold-ups and higher stakes

Support for Harris among National Baptists, though it may be unwavering for some, isn’t without questioning.

In a denomination that’s home to many conservative preachers on certain social issues — despite the convention not taking official stances on many of them — some National Baptist pastors have issues with the Democratic Party’s stance on abortion.

Stewart and Texas pastor Rev. Dwight McKissic, who’s served in key leadership roles within the convention and more recently is known for his work with a cross-denominational advocacy group called Evangelicals for Harris, said in a joint interview their differences with Harris on abortion are not insignificant.

Stewart said he’s long been a defiant voice against abortion, even when fellow Black faith leaders involved in civil rights work held more progressive stances.

Yet, McKissic said the calculus of abortion politics is changing because Trump and the GOP has taken a less hardline stance on the issue lately. Recent comments by Trump on leaving abortion to the states and in-vitro fertilization has outraged some conservatives, who have called Trump pro-choice.

“For me, that takes away any kind of consternation,” McKissic said.

McKissic’s support for Harris has faced intense criticism from peers in the Southern Baptist Convention, which McKissic is also involved with.

Meanwhile, for Stewart, amid his concerns about Harris’ stance on abortion, there are far graver issues at play in this election. The Phoenix pastor said his church is planning forums later this month and next on Christian nationalism, and about Project 2025 and its threat to democracy.

“I don’t tell people how to vote. But we are known as a Jesus and justice church,” Stewart said. “And I don’t know how anybody who believes in justice can vote for Donald Trump.”

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kamala Harris campaign: Why many in largest Black Baptist group back her