Trump to speak at Black journalists convention, as Harris erases his lead in polls

Donald Trump is set to field reporters’ questions at the National Association of Black Journalists Annual Convention in Chicago on Wednesday, as he re-tools his presidential campaign to combat his likely rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Republican nominee’s Q&A before a live convention audience is expected to focus on the biggest issues facing the Black community, NABJ said.

Trump will be speaking with Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, ABC News senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott and politics reporter Kadia Goba of Semafor. It will be livestreamed at 1 p.m. ET on the group’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

The event gives Trump, who won just 12% of Black voters in his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, an opportunity to directly appeal to voters of color.

But he may have more trouble courting these voters in a competition against Harris, who is the first Black person, first woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.

Some polls already show that Harris has more support among Black, Latino and young voters than Biden did before she replaced him as the de facto Democratic nominee.

On Tuesday, a new Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey of battleground states found that Harris has effectively eliminated Trump’s lead in the seven battleground states likely to determine which candidate wins the Electoral College.

The Trump campaign, in a press release Monday night announcing his NABJ appearance, claimed that he “accomplished more for Black Americans than any other president in recent history.”

The decision by NABJ, the nation’s largest association of journalists of color, to host Trump quickly spurred a backlash both inside and outside the group.

Convention co-chair Karen Attiah resigned her position on the eve of the event, writing in a social media post, “To the journalists interviewing Trump, I wish them the best of luck.”

She added in follow-up post, “While my decision was influenced by a variety of factors, I was not involved or consulted with in any way with the decision to platform Trump in such a format.”

NABJ President Ken Lemon, responding to the Trump event, wrote on X that the group understands “the serious work of our members, and welcome the opportunity for them to ask the tough questions that will provide the truthful answers Black Americans want and need to know.”

Tia Mitchell, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution correspondent and NABJ program co-chair, defended the move, saying it is “in line with invitations NABJ has sent to every presidential candidate for decades.”

Harris, however, will not be at the convention.

While then-candidate Biden had planned to attend the event, a person familiar with Harris’ plans told NBC News that the vice president could not fit a convention appearance into her schedule this week. Harris’ overlapping plans include attending the funeral of late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and the ongoing process of selecting a running mate.

That person said NABJ had declined a request by Harris’ team to let the vice president appear for a virtual fireside chat, or to schedule an in-person event with the group at a later date.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.