MILWAUKEE — The Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, who will be addressing Republicans at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, spoke to Fox News Digital about why Black voters are drawn to former President Trump despite denials from some in the Democratic Party.
“There’s been an increase,” Sewell said of the trend of some Democrats, particularly Black voters, voting for Trump. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson This week, he downplayed the change.
“Last month, when Donald Trump came to our church, we saw black people. I know without a doubt that an increase is happening because I’ve seen with my own eyes at my church people who aren’t necessarily associated with the church, like rappers, pastors, teachers, coming to hear Donald Trump speak. So I know we’re seeing more black people.”
USA Today/Suffolk University Public opinion poll announcement A survey last month found that support for Biden among black voters in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania has fallen by about 20 percentage points since the last election.
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Lorenzo Sewell, pastor of Church 180, is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention on Thursday. (Getty Images)
Fox News Poll Biden was shown to have a 64-point lead over Trump among black voters in July 2020. Now, Biden’s lead has shrunk to 42 points.
Asked by Fox News Digital what makes Trump different from previous Republican presidential candidates who have failed to resonate with black voters, Sewell said: “He’s not your typical politician.”
“He was willing to go to communities that most Republicans wouldn’t go to. President Donald Trump is from New York, so I think that gives him an advantage. In a city like Detroit, where I live, that’s very polarized with black and white voting, and he brings cultural awareness and cultural intelligence.”
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is hurriedly escorted off the stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“He’s willing to jump in, he’s willing to get his hands dirty, and he’s willing to come up with a plan. Look at the Platinum Plan. [what] “What has President Donald J. Trump done with this plan to make sure that Black entrepreneurs and Black churches have the resources,” Sewell continued. “And that’s why I think his words resonate. Let’s be honest, everybody wanted to be Donald Trump at that time, right? Let’s be real, right? So I think that’s part of why his words resonate.”
Sewell, who grew up in a household surrounded by drugs and gang violence where his father was sent to prison and his brother murdered, told Fox News Digital he was at the Republican National Convention to speak up for the “disenfranchised” and “marginalized” forgotten people in Michigan, and explained that he hopes black voters will watch the RNC to find out more about the Republican Party.
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Attendees on day three of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly)
““Just Google Republican and look at patriots who stood up to stop slavery 170 years ago,” Sewell said. “Just Google Black Republicans and look at some of the greatest leaders in our culture, in our context, people like Thomas Sowell and people who stood up, and even patriots from the post-Reconstruction era when Black Americans were Republicans.”
“If you think about Frederick Douglass and how he advised Abraham Lincoln, I would do the same. You take five minutes to Google black Republicans and you’ll find out that black people have always been Republicans. It’s the Democrats who have identity politics and are trying to confuse black Americans into thinking that black people aren’t Republicans. We always have, but Donald Trump is trying to win back the black vote again.”
