In the 2020 election, Donald Trump received just 7% of the Black vote nationwide, which is comparable to what Republican presidential candidates have received dating back to the passage of the Civil Rights acts in the 1960s. But Republicans in Wisconsin think that’s going to change in 2024.

There were 50,000 visitors in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, but around the secure perimeter it’s a sea of white save for people working security or selling Trump merchandise.

Inside the Fiserv Forum, the GOP delegates are overwhelmingly white, but Republicans like Bob Spindell say Black voters look back at the first Trump presidency with fondness.

“Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve been involved in the Black community, and I noticed during his time people were happy,” said Spindell, an alternate delegate at the RNC.

Bob Spindell, a Republican alternate delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention, discusses Black voters and Donald Trump’s presidency in Milwaukee during the RNC. “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve been involved in the Black community, and I noticed during his time people were happy,” said Spindell, who is also a member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

“Well, we’re going to have a big splash this election cycle, so get ready,” said Gerard Randall, the first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

“Good afternoon everybody, and welcome,” he said while hosting an event on July 16 at the GOP’s Black Community Center. Located just a few blocks north of the convention, pictures of Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan hang next to those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

“We’re really excited for this opportunity to showcase a couple of our really outstanding efforts to extend outreach into the African American community here in Milwaukee,” said Randall.

The headliner of the event was Republican South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who was promoting the Opportunity Zones created in Milwaukee and designed to bring investment to the area.

Tim Scott, a Republican U.S. Senator for South Carolina, speaks at the party’s Black Community Center in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024 during the Republican National Convention. “The goal is to lift all Americans out of poverty. It just so happens that disproportionately African Americans live in poverty more than any other demographic in this country,” Scott said. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

“The goal isn’t simply to lift African American out of poverty. The goal is to lift all Americans out of poverty. It just so happens that disproportionately African Americans live in poverty more than any other demographic in this country,” Scott said.

“I mean, they just want to be able to show a presence – it’s not like they’re doing a lot in the entire community,” said David Crowley, who is the Milwaukee County Executive and a Democrat.

He said the GOP putting a building with a billboard in a black neighborhood isn’t enough to win Black votes.

“Sometimes folks don’t know how to actually address Black folks. You know, I’m glad Sen. Tim Scott was in a Black neighborhood. But let’s face it, one of the first things he said on the convention floor was that racism doesn’t exist,” Crowley said. “And whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican and happen to be Black, living in one of the most segregated communities in the United States, like Milwaukee County, then you have to go, ‘Oh, my, not quite, not so fast.'”

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley discusses Black voters and partisan politics at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July 2024. “I need you to be right next to me with me going down and fighting for the things that directly affect not just me, but affect my family as well,” Crowley said. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

The Black Conservative Federation held a barbecue later that evening, hoping to draw in and engage potential voters. Turnout was low, but Rev. Harold Turner of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church on Milwaukee’s north side showed up, saying he was willing to listen.

“I always believe that it’s important to know where you come from and then you possibly can go forward,” Turner said. “You need to know your opponents as well. So if the Republican is an opponent, we need to know if a Democrat is doing a lot for us. We need to know that too. And we should hold them accountable to address some of the real needs that we are in the heart of the Black community.”

Aside from being an alternate delegate, Bob Spindell is also a Republican appointee on the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

After the 2022 election he sent out an email praising lower turnout in Black neighborhoods in Milwaukee. It stated: “We can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.”

Spindell said getting Black people to not vote for Democrats was the first step to voting for Republicans.

“Take a look at what the Dems have done for the community over the last 50 years — nothing has changed,” he said. “Very little has changed from what the Democrats were doing.”

Democrats called it more evidence of voter suppression.

“There was no effort on the part of the Republican Party, either nationally, locally or statewide, to depress the African-American vote,” Randall said. “Voters may have stayed home on their own volition because, frankly, the message just wasn’t resonating with them.”

Gerard Randall, first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, discusses outreach to voters through its Black Community Center in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024 during the Republican National Convention. “We’re really excited for this opportunity to showcase a couple of our really outstanding efforts to extend outreach into the African American community here in Milwaukee,” Randall said. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

Randall said the proof will come in November, when he predicts Trump will double his support among Black voters in Wisconsin.

“We’re going to get better than 15% of the African-American vote statewide here for President Trump,” he said.

“I don’t know where he’s getting those numbers from,” said Crowley.

He said the RNC will be old news by November, and Black voters remember which party supports their community.

“It’s about investments. You can be here all you want and say, ‘I support you,’ but I tell people all the time, it’s not about being an ally. You know, we need an accomplice,” Crowley said. “I need you to be right next to me with me going down and fighting for the things that directly affect not just me, but affect my family as well.”