New Poll Shows Michigan’s GOP Rep. John James Gets Zero Support From Black Voters

The rest pushed for Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and 14.8% were undecided.

Michigan’s gubernatorial race is a hot-ticket ballot, but for frontrunner U.S. Rep John James, the state’s Black voters aren’t feeling him.

The Detroit Free Press reports that a new survey from Glengariff Group on behalf of the Detroit Regional Chamber shows zero percent support among Black voters for the Black candidate. While only 81 of the 600 voters surveyed identified as African American, several offered support for former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, running as an independent, receiving 59.3% of Black respondents’ support.

The rest pushed for Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and 14.8% were undecided.

Additionally, James has lost support in key demographics, including independents, women, metro Detroiters, young voters, and people over 65, which isn’t optimal for his campaign, as Republicans have their eye on him to potentially bring in Motor City voters, who are historically Democratic.

Recent events also don’t help James’ favor. After President Donald Trump posted a highly offensive image of the Obamas as apes, sparking nationwide backlash, the Republican lawmaker stood on a thin line between defending the President and expressing disdain. Saying he was “shocked and appalled by that post,” he claimed that Trump doesn’t fall in the category of being racist. “I know the President. He is not racist,” James wrote on X in a now-deleted post.

“I’m glad to see that trash has been taken down.”

But that isn’t stopping him and other Black Republican leaders from being frontrunners in key midterm races. They hope not to be just “Black Republicans,” but to be looked at as pivotal members of their party’s future.

The country has its eyes on other melanated candidates, like Florida Rep. Byron Donalds running for governor, Rep. Wesley Hunt for U.S. Texas Senate, and Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams, who in 2022 was the first Black Republican to be elected to the Ohio House in 50 years. “I think representation matters. Inclusion in the room matters. The problem is when it’s forced representation only because it’s the color of your skin, that it becomes detrimental, not only to me as an individual but to my community as a whole,” Williams said, according to Notus.

“I don’t want to be in the room merely because you want a Black candidate in the room or a Black congressman in the room. I want to be in the room because I deserve to be there.”

With James, Donalds, and Hunt seeking higher offices, Utah’s Rep. Burgess Owens will be the only Black GOP incumbent set to return to the House in 2027. While redistricting creates a potential battle for re-election, Republicans have seen growth in popularity from Black voters over the years, with Trump winning 15% of Black voters in the 2024 presidential election, almost twice the amount of the 8% secured in 2020.