JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) 鈥� on Sunday summoned Black churchgoers to turn out at the polls and got a big assist from music legend Stevie Wonder, who rallied congregants with a rendition of Bob Marley鈥檚 鈥淩edemption Song."
Harris visited two Atlanta area churches as part of a nationwide push known as 鈥渟ouls to the polls." It's a mobilization effort led by the National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders, which is sending representatives across battleground states to encourage early voting.
After services, buses took congregants straight to early polling places.
At both churches, Harris delivered a message about kindness and lifting people up rather than insulting them, trying to set up an implicit contrast with brash style. With just 16 days left until , Harris is running out of time to get across her message to a public still getting to know her after a .
鈥淭here is so much at stake right now,鈥� she said at the Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro. 鈥淥ur strength is not based on who we beat down, as some would try to suggest. Our strength is based on who we lift up. And that spirit is very much at stake in these next 16 days.鈥�
Wonder led the crowd in singing his version of 鈥淗appy Birthday" to the vice president, who turned 60 on Sunday. When he was done, she appeared to choke up, saying, 鈥淚 love you so much.鈥�
Wonder grinned and said 鈥渄on鈥檛 cry" before telling the crowd how important it was for people to get out and vote.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to make the difference between yesterday and tomorrow,鈥� he said.
Harris later said that she 鈥渉ad to check off a whole big one鈥� on her bucket list because of Wonder singing her a birthday song, which prompted the singer to spring up and lead the congregation in a quick verse of 鈥滺igher Ground."
Pastor Donald Battle said of the election: 鈥淕eorgia's gonna be the state that turns it for the vice president.鈥�
鈥淪ouls to the Polls鈥� as an idea traces back to the Civil Rights Movement. , a Black entrepreneur from Mississippi, was killed by white supremacists in 1955 after he helped nearly 100 Black residents register to vote in the town of Belzoni. The cemetery where Lee is buried has served as a polling place.
across the country have undertaken get-out-the-vote campaigns for years. In part to counteract voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by candidates.
In Georgia, people voted on that day, more than doubling the first-day total in 2020. A record 5 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Earlier Sunday, the Democratic presidential nominee attended New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, where the congregation also sang 鈥淗appy Birthday.鈥�
New Birth Pastor Jamal Bryant called the vice president 鈥渁n American hero, the voice of the future鈥� and 鈥渙ur fearless leader.鈥� He also used his sermon to welcome the idea of America electing its first woman president, saying, 鈥淚t takes a real man to support a real woman.鈥�
鈥淲hen Black women roll up their sleeves, then society has got to change,鈥� Bryant said.
Harris referenced scripture as she promoted the importance of loving one's neighbor, and then drew a contrast to the current political environment.
鈥淚n this moment, across our nation, what we do see are some who try to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,鈥� Harris told the congregation. 鈥淭he true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.鈥�
One congregant who got a hug from Harris was 98-year-old Opal Lee, an activist who pushed to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday.
Harris is a Baptist. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. She has said she鈥檚 inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother鈥檚 native India as well as the Black Church. Harris sang in the choir as a child at Twenty-Third Avenue Church of God in Oakland.
Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, attended church in Saginaw, Michigan, and his wife, Gwen, headed to a service in Las Vegas.
Also Sunday, Harris sat for an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton and was asked about the idea that she might see her support slipping among Black men 鈥� some of whom . Former President Barack Obama suggested during a recent campaign stop for Harris in Pittsburgh.
Harris said she had garnered support from many key Black male leaders, adding, 鈥渢here鈥檚 this narrative about what kind of support we are receiving from Black men that is just not panning out in reality.鈥�
On Monday, in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Colleen Long And Will Weissert, The Associated Press
