Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton told a CNN panel that the Republican Party and President Donald Trump had largely failed a traditionally Democratic voting bloc that had swung over to President Donald Trump in the last election.
“I've critiqued my own party about meeting particularly Black men, who really showcase some diversity in their political thought in 2024, in terms of voting for Trump and Republicans to actually deliver electorally, deliver legislatively,” Singleton told the panel of CNN’s The Arena. “We're not supporting Black male candidates. We should be supporting legislation that empower Black men. And the party has completely failed, in my opinion.”
Black men are some of the Democrat Party’s most reliable voters, just south of Black women, but they swung more heavily to Trump than in previous years. He added that, consequently, there is “an opportunity for Democrats to regain some of that support and interest among Black men,” because of Republicans’ betrayal in the two years since Trump returned to the White House for his second term, particularly in states like Texas and South Carolina Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Singleton pointed out that Independent voters have moved “to the Democrats” in special elections since last year, and he was eager to see how Republicans spent their financial advantage trying to win them back to Black candidates running in places like the Florida gubernatorial election.
“Black Republican candidate] Byron Donalds has raised about $58 million in Florida. That is an impressive amount of money for someone running for governor. And so, what I'm looking for tonight is to see how Republicans spend what is a very clear cash advantage compared to Democrats. How does that help them with messaging? How does that help them with television ads? And how does that help them with the actual raw campaign operations, with targeting mobilization,” said Sington, implying that Republicans have not been investing in Black candidates as they should.
The conversation kicked off with footage of a rant from Democratic strategist James Carville, saying Black people will not abide the Democratic Party ignoring Black voters’ woes.
“Black folks are listening to me very carefully. They are the most loyal part of the entire democratic coalition. If you disrespect them, they know it,” said Carville. “And the Democratic Party can never show any distance between itself and Black voters. And it gets to the point that of the progressive [wing of the party] wants to disrespect people, they're going to understand that, and you're going to lose a constituency that is stuck with you for the last 70 years.”
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