Some Black voters disappointed by Biden’s exit but excited for Kamala Harris

While at brunch Sunday near Seattle, April Berg and her girlfriends’ cellphones simultaneously began to ping.  “We thought somebody had died,” she said. Rather, word had spread that President Joe Biden had pulled out of the presidential race. Moments later, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him as the Democratic nominee. Berg and her friends’ normal 90-minute gathering lasted almost four hours.  “It generated so much spicy conversation,” said Berg, who is Black, a Democrat and a Washington state House representative. Berg and millions of Black voters were pivotal to Biden’s victory in 2020, especially in key swing states like Georgia. In his 2020 victory speech, Biden thanked Black voters and said he would do right by them. Throughout his presidency, Biden has touted his administration’s accomplishments, like reducing child poverty, which particularly affects Black families, and appointing Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.  But while a majority of Black voters continued to back Biden, Black support for him had sagged overall. Now that he is no longer seeking re-election, Black people across the country interviewed by NBC News expressed various reactions to Biden’s decision, from elation to disappointment to ambivalence. But they agreed that Biden...