As the nation prepares for the presidential election, the Sahan Journal brought together a panel of political experts and activists for a Sahan Community Live event to discuss what matters to Minnesota voters of color this fall.
The community conversation, held on August 15 at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul, brought together a political scientist, an election law expert, a Duluth city councilman and representatives from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Minnesota Republican Party. Sahan Journal reporters Joey Peters and Katelyn Vue moderated the event, which was also live-streamed and recorded for broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio News.
For Democrats, the sudden switch from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ballot has excited progressive voters in Minnesota and across the country, said consumer protection attorney and DFL-affiliated political analyst Abou Amara. The recent nomination of Gov. Tim Walz as Harris’s running mate underscores that shift for Minnesotans, he said.
“Progressives were a little depressed,” Amara said. “The change at the top of the ticket with Kamala Harris really galvanized people.”
One indicator of this, says Amara, is the increased turnout of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in this election cycle compared to two years ago. For Amara, Omar’s larger lead in 2024 shows “a certain level of increased intensity within the progressive coalition.”
Some black men find a positive message in the Republican Party
AK Kamara, one of two Republican National Committee members for Minnesota, described a similar surge in enthusiasm for the Republican Party. Kamara pointed to the U.S. Senate race and the party’s endorsement and primary victory of Royce White, a former college basketball star who is black.
“The fact that he won the majority of those votes shows that the people in the Republican Party may not be what people portray them to be,” Kamara said, “along the lines of, ‘They’re racist or xenophobic’ or something like that.”
White’s victory indicates the strengthening of the populist wing of the Republican Party, Kamara said, and also the changing dynamics of conservative voters.
“You can see that more and more black men are getting involved in the Republican Party,” he said.
Immigration policy divides voters in Minnesota – and immigrant communities, to
Kamara represented the Republican position on immigration, which he said should favor U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. He pointed out that his father immigrated to the U.S. legally in 1979 and said he understands why some people fleeing a bad situation in their home country come here illegally.
But Kamara argued that the government must enforce federal immigration laws and that the country should ultimately use its limited resources to provide social services to its own citizens.
Former President Trump has announced plans to deport undocumented residents: in Minnesota, there are nearly 80,000. “It’s very simple: If you’re a legal immigrant, you have nothing to fear,” Kamara said. “If you’re not here legally, I think self-deportation is probably your best option.”
Amara praised Kamara for his “honesty and transparency” regarding the Republican Party’s positions, but argued that most Minnesota voters do not agree with them.
“I would say that’s why they haven’t won a statewide election since 2006,” Amara said. “They continue to lose at the ballot box. Minnesotans continue to reject these ideas.”
The war in Gaza continues to worry some voters in Minnesota
National polls suggest progressive voters are more enthusiastic about Harris’ candidacy than about Biden’s re-election. But Duluth City Councilor Azirin Awal says many Minnesotans — and especially Muslims — remain uncertain about Harris’s yet-to-be-determined stance on Israel’s war against Hamas.
Awal said she voted undecided on the issue in the March presidential primary: The undecided campaign received 46,000 votes in Minnesota. She said she is now waiting to see what Harris’ plan will be. While Harris’ rhetoric is “with more empathy for the Palestinian cause,” undecided voters “don’t just need words, we need action,” Awal said.
“We hear from international courts that what is happening is not OK, and yet we continue to enable genocide,” Awal said. “We continue to enable massive human rights violations and the enormous loss of life and young people. So I’m struggling quite a bit.”
Are voters of color motivated by “historic firsts”?
The prospect of Harris becoming the first woman and first South Asian president will likely motivate Democratic voters to turn out in the fall, said Michael Minta, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota.
“Harris is far ahead in polls when it comes to enthusiasm among minorities, young people and women – and that’s usually the result of such historic firsts,” Minta said. “That’s what the Democrats wanted, and it seems to be working.”
Michelle Witte, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, spoke about the right of Minnesota voters to go to the polls or, in some cases, even stay home. Witte pointed to a Minnesota law that allows all voters to register only once to receive mail-in ballots for all future elections.
“Those who do not want to vote can have a permanent ballot sent to their home,” said Witte.
She also praised voting laws recently passed in Minnesota, including a law that allows felons who have just completed prison sentences to vote even if they are on parole, advance voter registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and automatic voter registration at the DMV.
“For the voters, we are a great state,” said Witte.
