Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Fortune
Fortune
Emma Hinchliffe, Nina Ajemian

A Zoom call of 44,000 Black women raised $1.5M for Kamala Harris in 3 hours

(Credit: ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP—Getty Images)

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A repurposed drug could extend women's fertility, the pay gap doesn't appear to be going away, and Black women rally behind Kamala Harris. Have a terrific Tuesday!

- Keep winning. On Sunday night, 44,000 people logged onto Zoom—and raised $1.5 million. They gathered to talk about how to support Vice President Kamala Harris in her newly announced run for the presidency.

The gathering was hosted by the group Win With Black Women—and in less than three hours, the network raised $1.5 million for the new expected Democratic nominee. With donations ranging from $3 to the maximum allowed under federal election law, Black women and allies including Latinas, AAPI women, and Black men registered their full-throated support for Harris as she takes over the campaign from President Joe Biden.

For Jotaka Eaddy, who first convened the group in 2020, it was a "full-circle moment." Win With Black Women was founded in August 2020 in response to what its founding members saw as racism and sexism in the conversation about who would be Biden's vice presidential pick. At the time, think pieces debated whether Harris was "too ambitious" for the job. So it was especially meaningful to see the network grow to tens of thousands of supporters, this time explicitly supporting Harris in her bid for the nation's top job.

In total, the Harris campaign raised $81 million in its first 24 hours, the campaign said. Sixty percent of 880,000 donors were making their first contribution of the 2024 election cycle, the Guardian reported. Harris gave her first speech as a 2024 presidential candidate yesterday, combatting her opponent Donald Trump (she said that as a prosecutor, she "know[s] [his] type") and presenting her own vision for the country.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 22, 2024. Harris on Monday compared her election rival Donald Trump to "predators" and "cheaters," as she attacked the first former US leader to be convicted of a crime. (Photo by Erin SCHAFF / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Win With Black Women has been meeting most Sunday nights over the past four years. "We were ready. Black women were ready to come together, to unite," Eaddy says. Participants on the off-the-record call included corporate leaders, lawmakers, TV executives, actors and reality stars, union leaders, and more, Eaddy says. Author Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Blavity CEO Morgan DeBaun, and Fearless Fund founding partner Arian Simone shared an Instagram graphic that reads "I was one of the 44,000." Other attendees included Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas.), according to Bloomberg, and New York Attorney General Tish James and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, according to Politico.

Since first convening during the 2020 campaign cycle, Win With Black Women has galvanized support for other causes, not all in politics. The group advocated to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner while she was detained in Russia and has supported projects in entertainment like Ava DuVernay's film Origin.

Eaddy says she appreciates the power that the diverse group of women bring to this cause. "We leverage our individual power for our collective unity and agenda," she says. "We'll be working hand in hand with other Black-women-led organizations and allies, with Americans across the country to realize this historic moment where we will see the first Black woman, first woman president of the United States."

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Broadsheet is Fortune's newsletter for and about the world's most powerful women. Today's edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.