“Pop and the Spurs definitely got the deepest tree in the league — everybody branches off from here and ends up better,” Paul said during Tuesday’s press conference. Credit: Kiko Martinez

With less than two weeks until election day, San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul is urging Black men to get out and vote.

“When you look at statistics, it’s usually always women who get out and vote more than men,” Paul’s said during an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released Thursday on PlayersTV and YouTube. “So, as men, [we] have to continue to get out and talk about these things and make sure that we’re not too cool or just too strong or what not to be vulnerable, and to learn, because there’s an education aspect of it that I think is very important.”

Youtube video

The interview, moderated by New Orleans Pelicans guard C.J. McCollum, was taped during NBA summer league play in Las Vegas. That means it took place prior to Harris replacing President Joe Biden on the 2024 Democratic ticket.

Although Harris hadn’t yet announced her candidacy when the interview took place, emphasized during the interview that U.S. democracy depends on everyone being included in the process — including Black men.

“We tout ourselves as being the strongest democracy in the world, imperfect though we certainly are, and flawed though we certainly are,” Harris said. “And in any democracy, as we define it, the people must have the power. And representation matters. It is part of the founding ideals of our country, the promise of equality, the promise of freedom, the promise of liberty for all. And we know we still have a whole lot of work to do in that regard, especially when we look at the condition of Black men in America.”

Harris added that politicians in some states have “demonstrated to make it more difficult for Black people, period, to vote.”

The comment from Harris may ring particularly true for Texas voters. An investigation published by the Texas Tribune and Pro Publica this week found that Gov. Greg Abbott’s removal of 6,500 so-called “noncitizen voters” from Texas’ voter rolls in August likely included U.S. citizens eligible to vote.

Nearly 1.3 million Bexar County voters registered by the deadline, according to the San Antonio Report.

Early voting in Texas begins in Texas on Oct. 21. Residents can check to see if they’re registered and where to vote by visiting the Bexar County Elections Department’s website.

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...