by Sharelle B. McNair
February 27, 2026
The remainder pushed for Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and 14.8% have been undecided.
Michigan’s gubernatorial race is a hot-ticket poll, however for frontrunner U.S. Rep John James, the state’s Black voters aren’t feeling him.
The Detroit Free Press reviews {that a} new survey from Glengariff Group on behalf of the Detroit Regional Chamber reveals zero % assist amongst Black voters for the Black candidate. Whereas solely 81 of the 600 voters surveyed recognized as African American, a number of supplied assist for former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, operating as an impartial, receiving 59.3% of Black respondents’ assist.
The remainder pushed for Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and 14.8% have been undecided.
Moreover, James has misplaced assist in key demographics, together with independents, ladies, metro Detroiters, younger voters, and other people over 65, which isn’t optimum for his marketing campaign, as Republicans have their eye on him to doubtlessly herald Motor Metropolis voters, who’re traditionally Democratic.
Latest occasions additionally don’t assist James’ favor. After President Donald Trump posted a extremely offensive picture of the Obamas as apes, sparking nationwide backlash, the Republican lawmaker stood on a skinny line between defending the President and expressing disdain. Saying he was “shocked and appalled by that publish,” he claimed that Trump doesn’t fall within the class of being racist. “I do know the President. He isn’t racist,” James wrote on X in a now-deleted publish.
“I’m glad to see that trash has been taken down.”
However that isn’t stopping him and different Black Republican leaders from being frontrunners in key midterm races. They hope to not be simply “Black Republicans,” however to be checked out as pivotal members of their get together’s future.
The nation has its eyes on different melanated candidates, like Florida Rep. Byron Donalds operating for governor, Rep. Wesley Hunt for U.S. Texas Senate, and Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams, who in 2022 was the primary Black Republican to be elected to the Ohio Home in 50 years. “I believe illustration issues. Inclusion within the room issues. The issue is when it’s pressured illustration solely as a result of it’s the colour of your pores and skin, that it turns into detrimental, not solely to me as a person however to my group as a complete,” Williams stated, in line with Notus.
“I don’t wish to be within the room merely since you desire a Black candidate within the room or a Black congressman within the room. I wish to be within the room as a result of I need to be there.”
With James, Donalds, and Hunt in search of greater workplaces, Utah’s Rep. Burgess Owens would be the solely Black GOP incumbent set to return to the Home in 2027. Whereas redistricting creates a possible battle for re-election, Republicans have seen development in reputation from Black voters through the years, with Trump profitable 15% of Black voters within the 2024 presidential election, nearly twice the quantity of the 8% secured in 2020.
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