Beyoncé joined husband Jay Z on Friday (4 November) night in Ohio to urge voters in the crucial battleground state to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The music superstars were joined by a number of performers in a get-out-the-vote concert at Cleveland State Universitys Wolstein Center four days before Election Day.
This is history, Beyoncé told the crowd, according to USA Today. There was a time when a womans opinion did not matter... Look how far weve come from having no voice to being on the brink of making history.
She continued: I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman leading the country...Thats why Im with her.
The singer helped rally the crowd of mostly African-Americans in their 20s and 30s to vote early ahead of the 8 November election. She was joined by husband Jay Z, Chance the Rapper, Big Sean and J Cole.
Jay Z, meanwhile, argued that Clintons Republican rival Donald Trump was the wrong person to win the White House. I dont have any ill will toward him, but his conversation is divisive, he said. He cannot be my president. He cannot be our president.
Clinton has campaigned vigorously to win Ohio, which has 20 electoral votes, by targeting millennial and black voters in the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga County. According to CBS News, Clinton needs to win in the county by big margins in order to defeat Trump. The GOP nominee is leading the polls the state.
Hello, Cleveland! Clinton exclaimed while standing onstage with Beyoncé and Jay Z following the concert. The Democratic nominee praised Beyoncé as a woman who is an inspiration to so many others and thanked Jay Z for using his music to address our biggest challenges in the country: poverty, racism, the urgent need for criminal justice reform.
When I see them there, this passion and energy and intensity, I dont even know where to begin because this is what America is, my friends, Clinton added, according to The New York Times.
The concert, as well as others hosted by a bevy of artist, is Clintons last chance to motivate young voters. The New York Times noted that black voter turnout is down in several states from 2012 and young Black voters in particular have been resistant to supporting Clinton in the general election.
But on board of Clintons campaign plane, Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta suggested comparing her numbers with black voters with President Barack Obamas were unfair. Look, President Obama was the first African-American president, so he had a level of enthusiasm, commitment that were trying to push toward beating, but obviously he has advantages there, Podesta said.
