U.S. Rep. John James, who is running for the Republican nomination for Michigan governor, was booed by Michigan Republicans at the state party’s convention over the weekend.
The moment was caught on video as James, a two-term congressman, was announced as he walked to the stage with his fellow opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary race, who made their pitches to Michigan GOP delegates ahead of the Aug. 4 primary election.
“Wow, he’s getting booed,” said one person in the video of Rep. James’ not-so-friendly reception at the Saturday convention. Another person yelled, “John James just got booed!”
James is well known to Michigan Republicans, as he was the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in the 2018 and 2020 elections. During his speech to GOP delegates, Congressman James touted his votes in Congress, most recently to fund the Department of Homeland Security after TSA workers went weeks without pay. He also highlighted his time in the U.S. Army, having served in the Iraq War.
James’s being met with boos was seized by Democrats, who used it as an opportunity to paint Republicans as in a state of turmoil and bad policies under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
“John James getting booed after dodging debates and the latest tightening poll numbers are the newest signs that this primary remains wide-open and getting nastier,” said Democratic Governors’ Association Communications Director Sam Newton. “No matter who claws their way to the top, every Republican is aligned behind Trump’s agenda that is harming Michiganders and driving up costs.”
Shanay Watson-Whittaker, Reproductive Freedom for All Director of Michigan Campaigns, told theGrio, “Even after Michigan voted to protect abortion access, our health care centers are closing, and Black people in Michigan are still twice as likely to die while pregnant. John James’s own party isn’t even buying what he is selling, and we cannot afford to let someone like him in the governor’s mansion to continue cutting access to health care that Michiganders rely on.”
While James was initially the clear frontrunner in the GOP gubernatorial primary, the latest polling shows the race tightening and James losing his grip. As theGrio previously reported, Black Republicans in the current MAGA climate, with the exception of Rep. Byron Donalds, who has been endorsed by President Trump in the Florida gubernatorial race, haven’t fared well in their bids for statewide offices.
This past November, Virginia gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, whom Trump did not endorse, significantly lost her bid for governor, despite becoming the state’s first Black woman lieutenant governor. Similarly, Herschel Walker, the 2022 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia, lost his statewide race despite being handpicked by Trump.
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt lost his bid for the Texas U.S. Senate nomination earlier this month, while former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is faring better in his bid for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in the Bluegrass State.
Black Republicans have also faced incidents of racism within their own party. Rep. Hunt previously called out one of U.S. Senator Tim Scott’s top staffers who made a joke about his supposedly ashy ankles, which Hunt called a “racist trope.” And despite Trump’s endorsement, Donalds’ campaign for governor faced a “pile-on” from Republicans in Florida and was called a “slave” and “Section 8 ghetto” by one of his opponents, James Fishback.
In response, Donalds’ chief strategist replied, “Donalds has spent his life as a strong, Black conservative voice defending President Trump and America First agenda, so he is used to and unfazed by racist Twitter trolls who attack him for that.”
