Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) expressed his frustration with former President Barack Obama‘s lecture to black men because they won’t “follow suit” and vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
With three weeks left until the election, a New York Times-Siena College poll has 71% of black registered voters choosing Harris for president. That statistic would be a historically low majority of black voters to pick the Democratic presidential candidate.
Obama went on the campaign trail last week on Harris’s behalf and spoke with a crowd of voters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This swing state has a black population of over 1.4 million and has become the focus of the Harris campaign to fight for its 19 Electoral College votes.
The former president suggested black men “just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” Donalds responded to the clip on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria on Tuesday.
“Maria, every time I see that clip, it just pisses me off even more. First of all, it’s not about Kamala Harris being a woman. It’s about the fact that Kamala Harris has not really done anything in particular for any American, let alone black men. What has she done the last 1,400 days as vice president to warrant black men or any other subgroup in our country voting and supporting her?” Donalds said. “But now that she’s losing in this presidential election, now she wants to run out with an agenda specifically for black men? It is phony.”
Donalds has come under fire from Democrats for being in the Republican Party. He has since joined a podcast made up of fellow black Republican congressmen, including Reps. Burgess Owens (R-UT), John James (R-MI), Wesley Hunt (R-TX), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). The five often discuss the political stereotypes of their race.
“Now that we know what [Harris] stands for and what she’s about, it is rejected by Americans across the country, including a portion of black men. So, for Barack Obama and Kamala Harris to now be upset because black men are looking at their economic futures, their economic prospects, as opposed to just being loyal to the Democrat Party and they don’t want to follow suit? Now they’re going to be chastised?” Donalds said. “This is what’s wrong with politics. Frankly, this is what’s wrong with the Democrat Party. Kamala Harris is going to lose. It’s her fault because the agenda of the Democrat Party that has caused a portion of black men to now start to follow Donald Trump.”
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Meanwhile, the same poll showed Trump with 18% of black registered voters’ support. That high of an approval rating would be a massive swing from the 2020 election, in which President Joe Biden won 92% of the black vote.
In 2020, black voters made up 13.5% of all eligible voters. They are expected to make up 14% in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.