Black and minority voters turned out Tuesday in force across Richmond, with the city delivering an overwhelming 81.6% of its votes to Vice President Kamala Harris in her historic but ultimately unsuccessful bid for the presidency.

The 2024 presidential race drew significant attention from local political experts, particularly regarding minority voter participation. Statewide, Virginia favored Harris with 51.5% of votes, earning her 13 electoral votes. Petersburg showed even stronger support at 85.6%, while neighboring Henrico County delivered 63.2% and Chesterfield County contributed 53.1% for Harris.

Harris did not win the electoral or popular vote that night. She had 244 electoral votes, while President-elect Donald Trump garnered 277.

Morgan Wimbush, a Virginia Commonwealth University senior and Richmond native, said she voted for Harris on Election Day at the University Commons because she, “[prefers] to be on the right side of history and making a real change in difference.”

“We’ve already seen what Trump has done and has not done, and so it’s just really important to me to vote today,” Wimbush said.

Wimbush also is of Black and Asian descent, so witnessing the first Black and South Asian female presidential candidate served as a symbolic moment for her. 

Precinct 215 at Midtown Green — formerly the Bon Secours Training Center at 2401 W. Leigh St. — had a steady flow of voters throughout the day, with more than 2,500 expected to cast ballots, said Chief Election Officer Jada Flowers.

“Everybody wants to vote this time — even if they’re not really feeling well — they want to come out and say, ‘I’m making history because I’m voting on this presidential election,’ whichever way it goes, they want to be a part of it,” she said.

 Avonte Richardson, 6, shows off his mother’s “Just Voted” sticker after she voted at Swansboro Elementary School. Mom Brinae Jackson joined a steady flow of voters at Swansboro Elementary School on Election Day.
 By Sandra Sellars  

VCU political science associate professor Alex Keena referenced various polls that Black men gravitated away from Harris, in which he reported there was a 6% increase of Black men who voted Republican.

“What I see is that Kamala has a lot of support, particularly men,” he said Tuesday morning. “The polls — if to be trusted — they imply that Trump is kind of siphoning off some Black men.”

Politico reported back on Oct. 23 a poll from the GenForward survey that was run from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6 by the University of Chicago. The survey’s findings showed a quarter of young Black men preferred Trump, in comparison to the 2020 presidential race where Black men overall supported President Biden nearly nine to one. Black women supported Harris by 63%. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by 60%, as well as Latinas by 55% who supported Harris.

However, U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Va., who won re-election in the 4th Congressional District, said while she was aware of Harris’ rising poll numbers, that didn’t match what she had witnessed throughout the campaign.

“That [6% increase] might have been… some movement when Biden was still on the ticket, but Vice President Harris closed that gap when she became the nominee,” McClellan said Tuesday night. “I have seen the polls … that have shown Black men still preferring Vice President Harris over 80% and the Black population overall over 90%.”

Richmond 3rd District resident, Serena King, voted for Harris because she said Trump does not represent the minority voice.

“[He] is not for Black people, I don’t think he’s for Asians, I don’t think he’s for Hispanic people. I think he’s just for the rich and his own pocket,” she said Tuesday morning. “Then, he [has] felonies. How he could be president?”

Wimbush also expressed that the Black and minority votes were important for this presidential election because policy changes influenced them the most.

“I think that it definitely has the possibility to affect us more than it may others,” she said. “Not only is it important to see people that look like you in high positions, but it’s also just important to use our voice to vote because our ancestors died for this.”