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00:00Hi, I'm Yamiche Alcindor.
00:01I'm the Washington correspondent for NBC News,
00:04and I'm here with Ebony.
00:05This moment means to me the chance to cover a story
00:09that I know better than any political story
00:11I've ever covered in my lifetime.
00:14I know this story because I've been covering
00:17Vice President Harris since she was Attorney General Harris
00:20and when she was Senator Harris.
00:22I've interviewed her, I've talked to her multiple times.
00:25I know a lot about sort of why she is running
00:28and what she thinks about elected office
00:31and the responsibilities of being an elected official.
00:34There were always signs and hints
00:36that Vice President Harris was gonna be a star,
00:39was going to be someone who was going to have
00:41a lot of success because she's made history
00:44over and over and over again in her lifetime.
00:47Being a Black reporter in this moment,
00:50it does, I think, really help me understand
00:53the relevance of her candidacy
00:56and the challenges that she's gonna face
00:58because I've covered race,
01:00not only because I'm a Black person,
01:02but also because I've just covered race as a beat
01:04since I've become a reporter.
01:06Covering Sunday, July 21st,
01:08the day that President Biden decided to step down
01:11and drop out of the presidential race
01:13and endorse Vice President Harris was extraordinary.
01:16I was sitting in my kitchen
01:18feeding my 14-month-old son at the time breakfast,
01:23and I saw the tweet pop up and saw the post
01:26that said he was dropping out,
01:27and I nearly threw my baby in the air
01:29because it was such a moment where I was like,
01:32everything has shifted.
01:33Everything has shifted.
01:35And for those first 10 to 15 minutes,
01:37everyone was wondering, I was wondering,
01:38well, what next?
01:39And then the president comes out and says,
01:42I'm gonna endorse Vice President Harris.
01:44So I handed my baby off to my husband,
01:47and I went downstairs in the basement
01:48and really, I would say,
01:49captured and reported on history from my basement.
01:52It's gonna be really interesting to see the debate
01:54between Vice President Harris and former President Trump,
01:56especially as it relates to her support
01:58among African-American voters.
02:00So a new poll out by USA Today and Suffolk University
02:03shows that Vice President Harris
02:05is doing better among Black voters
02:06than President Biden was doing,
02:08but she's still not at the sort of 80 to 90%,
02:11really 90% that she needs
02:13in order to sort of win by big margins
02:16so that she can ensure that that voting block,
02:18which is really the backbone of the Democratic Party,
02:20comes out for her in big, big numbers.
02:22You think of someone like President Obama,
02:25who was able to win twice
02:27because he was able to run up his numbers,
02:28not only among, of course, other groups,
02:29but African-Americans turning up in record numbers.
02:32So I think she's really gonna have
02:34to really appeal to Black people,
02:36make them feel motivated,
02:37make them feel like she really has a vision
02:39for how to improve their lives.
02:41And in particular, that means not just talking
02:43about HBCUs and criminal justice,
02:45which I know I've talked to a lot of Black voters.
02:47Yes, they want to hear about that,
02:49but they also want to hear about the economy.
02:50They want to hear about education.
02:52They want to hear about healthcare.
02:53So I think particularly for African-American voters
02:56who are watching,
02:56I think the ones who are still on the fence
02:59are gonna be looking,
03:00well, why should I leave my house,
03:02maybe stand in line for hours and hours,
03:04maybe be hungry and thirsty trying to vote,
03:07because there are places in this country
03:10where it takes hours and hours to stand in line.
03:12Maybe you even have to miss a day of work.
03:14She's really gonna have to motivate Black voters,
03:16and I would say independent and undecided voters,
03:19but particularly Black voters,
03:21to do that work for her and to have the stamina
03:23to withstand what it might take
03:25to vote in this country come November.
03:27Just in talking to sources
03:30who are close to Vice President Harris,
03:32she is still trying to work out specifically
03:34how to differentiate herself from President Biden.
03:37She, of course, is running on the idea
03:39that she wants to build on the Biden legacy,
03:42but there are gonna be, I think,
03:43a real question of how is she gonna be different
03:47than President Biden,
03:48whether that's on her Israel and Middle East policy,
03:51whether that's on the way that she views foreign policy.
03:55That's gonna be, I think,
03:56something that's gonna be really key for her to do.
03:57I also think it's gonna be key for her
03:59to really lay out how are people,
04:02everyday Americans' lives,
04:03gonna really be impacted by her presidency.