A "White Dudes for Harris" Zoom call with over 190,000 participants raised more than four million dollars for the Harris campaign on Monday evening.
Vice President Kamala Harris making a play for the white male vote is an interesting strategy as the demographic in question has been demonized by the Democratic Party for years.
A slew of celebrities participated in the call, including actor Jeff Bridges, who played "The Dude" in “The Big Lebowski.”
"Kamala is so certainly our girl … a woman president, man, so exciting!" Bridges said on the call. "And her championing of women’s rights, I’m for that, and for all her stance on the environment."
Bridges referenced his famed character, saying, “As the Dude might say: That’s just my opinion, man.” On the White Dudes for Harris call and the actual Dude makes an appearance stating his strong support. The Dude still abides! #WhiteDudesForHarris pic.twitter.com/7upiSzMa8t
— Bill Arthur (@BigSteelhead) July 30, 2024
Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; and actors Mark Hamill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sean Astin, and Josh Gad were also participants. I attended the ‘White Dudes for Harris’ virtual meeting tonight so you don’t have to.
🚨ENJOY🚨 pic.twitter.com/v3TlcaiVAz
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) July 30, 2024
During the call, Buttigieg claimed that Harris is the candidate for those who support "freedom."
“Men are more free when the leader of the free world and the leader of this country supports access to birth control and to IVF,” Buttigieg said on the call.
Organizer Ross Morales Rocketto told the Washington Post, “The left has been ceding White men to the MAGA right for way, way too long.”
Rocketto continued, “That’s going to stop tonight, because we know that the silent majority of White men aren’t actually MAGA supporters. They’re folks like you who just want a better life for their families.”
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell told The Hill that the Harris campaign's push for white men is a product of where they struggle on the electoral map.
“They’re having an issue with rural, white men in the upper Midwest,” O’Connell said. “The Democrats are more enthusiastic about Harris than Biden, but that does not mean that the people who are going to decide on this election are any more enthusiastic about Harris than they were about Biden.”
