The streets surrounding Morehouse’s B.T. Harvey Stadium were crammed with alumni, family and friends as they bounced from tent to tent enjoying the food, music and revelry that is the annual SpelHouse homecoming tailgate.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, himself a Morehouse alum, was excited to spend time with his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers. But first he stopped by a tent that was decked out in Democrats’ blue instead of Morehouse maroon.
The Harris-Walz campaign has set up activations at several HBCU Homecomings, sending high-profile supporters like Warnock to reinforce the “get out the vote” message in the final weeks of the campaign.
“It’s important for them to engage young people,” Warnock, an Atlanta Democrat, said of the Homecoming tour. “This is an important part of our coalition.”
Staffers distributed campaign buttons and yard signs. A vendor made customized airbrushed campaign shirts so that people could literally wear their support.
Warnock said it was important that the Atlanta University Center was among the campuses that hosted the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking to be the first Black woman president.
“When you think about the prospect of electing someone like Kamala Harris, the foundation of that is here,” he said. “I think of the Atlanta student movement. I think of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and all the changemakers that make somebody like her and somebody like me possible. And I feel that energy on this campus, even during homecoming.”
U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams of Atlanta and Jasmine Crockett of Texas also mingled with the crowd, alongside Black Panther actress Danai Gurira.
Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of gun safety organization Moms Demand Action, said her organization also saw the importance of interacting with the SpelHouse crowd, which numbers in the tens of thousands over the course of the day.
Gun violence affects young people most, and the homecoming tailgate provided a built way to reach that target audience, Ferrell-Zabala said.
“So, to make sure that we are getting them out, educating and getting folks out to vote is really important, because all the issues that matter and that are going to impact our day-to-day lives are on the ballot,” she said. “So, we want to make sure we’re not just the top of the ticket with Harris-Walz, but all the way down ballot.”
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