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On Sunday, when President Joe Biden stood down, Black women stepped up.
Just hours after Biden made history as the first president since Lyndon Johnson to end his re-election campaign — then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the Democratic presidential ticket — a Zoom call invitation went out. Convened by Win With Black Women, an intergenerational collective of Black women in business, entertainment, and technology, the invite purportedly went to the group’s 4,000 members interested in supporting Harris.
But word spread about the invitation and it went viral, crashing the platform when the call began. By the time the restarted call ended a few hours later, some 40,000 women, and male allies, had joined the call — and organizers had collected an impressive amount of money for a somewhat impromptu fundraiser.
“We made history together tonight and raised over $1.5 million in just 3 hours!” the organization posted on its web page Monday. “Have you given yet?”
“We are united and fired up,” Jotaka Eaddy, the group’s founder, told theGrio. “Ready to work to defeat Trump and his 2025 agenda and ensure that Vice President Harris is the next president of the United States!”
By Monday morning, the meme, “I was one of the 40,000,” began showing up on social media, including on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.
“I can’t tell ya’ll how much I needed this moment of sisterhood, solidarity, and community tonight,” Naima Cochrane, an award-winning writer and music industry veteran, wrote on X.
“I feel poured into, I feel convicted, committed, reminded, encouraged, emboldened, loved on, lifted….,”
Biden’s bombshell decision to drop out of the race kicked off a transformative 24 hours for Harris, the first woman of Black and South Asian descent — and first HBCU grad and Black sorority member — to serve as vice president. It upended a tight presidential race, thrust Harris into the spotlight, and made her the primary target for President Donald Trump.
By Monday afternoon, the vice president had won a string of endorsements from influential political organizations that promote women, including Emily’s List, the National Organization for Women, and the National Women’s Political Caucus. She also won the endorsement of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, perhaps the most powerful woman in political history, along with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Harris’ campaign said it was the biggest single-day fundraising total in U.S. history.
Combined with the $1.5 million raised by Win With Black Women, Harris took in $81 million — a stunning total for a presidential campaign barely 24 hours old. It was by far the largest 24-hour amount either party has raised during this election cycle, and a sizable portion came from small-dollar, first-time donors; Harris’ campaign said it was the biggest single-day fundraising total in U.S. history.
According to several news outlets, the Win With Black Women call featured remarks from several Black women politicians, including Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas. Rep. Maxine Waters of California — the first Black woman to chair the House Financial Services Committee — also spoke at the event.
While the endorsements have energized the Democratic Party, and the fundraising fueled hopes that she will be the first woman to occupy the Oval Office, there are some skeptics — including many Black women. They want to see Harris succeed, but fear the country’s history of racism and sexism will doom her campaign at the ballot box.
“As much as I would love to see Kamala become president, I just don’t think it’s going to happen,” Kristy Smith of Atlanta, told The New York Times. “America is just not ready for a woman president — especially not a Black woman president.”
But as Melissa Murray, a New York University law school professor wrote on X in response: “Just a reminder. She’s electable if we elect her.”
