Democrats are facing serious trouble with one of their most important voting blocs in Michigan. Black voters in Detroit have publicly accused the party of ignoring their concerns and using their support only to win elections.
The complaints emerged as Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed works to unite the party after a narrow primary victory. El-Sayed performed poorly in Detroit and other heavily Black areas that Democrats will need in November.
Voters appeared in a Fox News segment that aired on August 23, less than three weeks after El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the August 4 primary. The segment highlighted his difficulty attracting Black support despite securing the statewide nomination by roughly one percentage point. He will face Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the general election.
“We’ve never really been a priority for the Democratic Party overall in politics as a whole, as a Black population,” one Detroit voter said. “It’s just the way that they don’t address our issues, issues that concern actually Black people, especially working-class Black people.”
A second voter was even more direct. “I don’t think any Democratic Party prioritizes the Black vote because it’s always a ploy to get the Black vote, make all these promises,” the voter said. “But once that vote is in and stuff like that, then it’s operation as normal. I will say the Black community feels a little disengaged.”
Primary results underscored the problem. Stevens carried Detroit, Flint, Muskegon, and Saginaw even while losing the statewide race. Those outcomes revealed a clear weakness for El-Sayed as he tries to rebuild the Democratic coalition before November. The open dissatisfaction from a core voting group adds another challenge for Democrats in a critical battleground state.