Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ‘ campaign  , gearing up for the 2024 election, launched its Black voter initiative Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Girard College, a majority- Black boarding school .

At around 2 pm, in an auditorium filled with hundreds of black Philadelphia residents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took the podium to applause and an audience chanting “four more years”.

As the president listed his accomplishments that affected black voters during his presidency, Biden repeated the refrain “a promise made and a promise kept.” He said he relieved student debt for nearly 5 million Americans, banned police chokeholds, created databases on police misconduct and named the first black woman to the supreme gallantry .

These achievements, Biden said, were possible thanks to the “tremendous credit ” that black voters placed in him in 2020.

Harris told the crowd that as a candidate, Biden has made it his mission to fight some of the biggest issues facing the black community, such as capping the cost of insulin at $35 per month for seniors and removing medical debt as a factor in credit scores. . .

“Thanks!” an audience member shouted.

Turning to the election, Biden said: “Let’s make Donald Trump a loser again. I’m still optimistic, but I need you.” His only question to black voters: “Are you with me?” The crowd stood up as they shouted “yes”.

A few blocks from the event, a small group of protesters wearing keffiyehs served as a reminder of many younger voters’ dissatisfaction with Biden’s pedestal to Israel’s war in Gaza.

But back in the auditorium, gospel singers dressed in black sang Oh Happy Day while standing under a large blue sign that said “Black Voters for Biden-Harris.” Girard College students dressed in brown shirts cheered from the stands. The crowd skewed older, with some attendees holding signs that read “Historically Black .”

Joe Biden’s pedestal for older voters.

Verna Hutchinson-Toler, a 75-year-old voter from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said she supported Joe Biden because she is “passionate about voter registration as a social determinant of health.” She referenced research that showed that communities with a large number of registered voters receive more attention to their environmental and health needs.

As a chaplain at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Hutchinson-Toler cared for patients who were victims of gun violence, which fueled her advocacy for gun control. “Personally, I think his track record has been incredible,” she said of Biden’s crackdown on ghost guns.

Zelma Carroll, a 57-year-old certified nursing assistant from Philadelphia, was grateful that Biden canceled some of her daughter’s student loans at Penn State University. Carroll campaigned for the Biden-Harris campaign four years ago and plans to do so again soon. “I just hope they get to our neighborhoods and let people know where we’re going, where we need to be and where we can’t go back,” Carroll said. “We can’t let Trump in.”

Winston Cameron, a registered independent, said he came to the event to “hear what the horse says”. Cameron voted for Biden in 2020 and wasn’t sure he would vote for him again. For Cameron, a 35-year-old student originally from Jamaica, immigration and the economy are the issues that concern him most. “It could be better,” Cameron said of Biden’s achievements in those areas.

“I can see the positive changes he is trying to implement, but I think it is still a weak stance.” However, Cameron said, he was pleased with Biden’s attention to Dreamers, immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. Earlier this month, the Biden administration finalized a rule that would give Dreamers health coverage.

Overall , the audience at Wednesday’s event was energized by the administration’s Black voter initiative. But perhaps above all, they wanted to promise that Trump would not win the election again. “My only issue that concerns me is the return of the other facet ,” said Rick Harper, 77, a Philadelphia resident and speaker at the Democratic national convention in August. “I’m very happy for President Biden and Vice President Harris.”