Chicago Couple Funding Billboards In Swing States

black male voters, swing states, billboard campaign

November 3, 2024

Gary and Denise Gardner have invested $500,000 to launch the ‘We Gotta Vote’ billboard campaign.

A Chicago couple launched a billboard initiative in response to concerns about potential low voter turnout among Black men on Election Day.

Gary and Denise Gardner have invested $500,000 to launch the “We Gotta Vote” billboard campaign, WTTW reports. Inspired by Spike Lee’s film “She’s Gotta Have It,” the campaign has strategically placed billboards in key swing states such as Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Ohio, aiming to engage undecided voters.

“It sounded suspect to me,” Gary said of murmurings about low voter turnout among Black men. “I run into young Black men every day here in Chicago. So we put together a comprehensive marketing campaign.”

“I think the billboard campaign was a great one, because it not only reached about 350,000 men in total, but more importantly, it reached their families.”

The couple drew on their previous experience working on campaigns for former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, and former President Barack Obama to help boost voter turnout. The three billboard designs feature a different Black man since there is “no one image that encompasses young Black men,” Gardner said.

Denise added the phrase “We Can’t Go Back” to the “We Gotta Vote” campaign and while the couple aren’t telling voters who to cast their ballot for, the couple has put their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.

“She’s transcended because of her experience being in state government, in federal government, being a vice president,” Gardner said. “And she’s transcended race or gender. She doesn’t talk about her race or gender. She talks about being a president because she’s been elevated to that position.”

New polling conducted by the NAACP Oct. 11-17 shows approximately 20% of younger Black men indicate their support for the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. While support for Trump has declined since August, this trend remains a concern for the Harris campaign as she depends on robust turnout from Black men in closely contested swing state races and has been actively working to address this issue.

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