MILWAUKEE — For Black Republicans who often feel like “the only one” among family and friends when the topic is politics, an event during the Republican National Convention served as an opportunity to rub elbows with people who look and think like them.
Elizabeth Hinds-Ferrick, who lives in the Boston suburbs, is the only Black member in Massachusetts’ delegation of 40 voting delegates. This year is her first time attending the party’s convention, and she said she felt honored to showcase her commitment to the party.
“I know my task is to recruit more Blacks to the Republican Party,” she said. “And that is my platform in Boston, to have more listening sessions and reach out to the Black and brown community to show them what the Republican Party has to offer.”
She attended an event Tuesday hosted by the Georgia GOP and the Black Republican Mayors’ Association that featured food, drinks and upbeat R&B music. The event’s goal was to celebrate the Black voting and alternate delegates, and the program also included remarks from Black members of Congress and other Black GOP leaders.
Before and after, there was networking and socializing in an event that organizers said was the primary vehicle for Black attendants at this year’s convention.
“It’s so good and it’s energetic,” Hinds-Ferrick said. “And also to bring some unity to let you know that you’re not the only one, you’re not standing alone. ... It’s like a support group.”
Rufus Montgomery, an Atlanta-based lobbyist who has been active in the Republican Party for more than 30 years, helped organize the event. He credited former President Donald Trump with energizing the party in ways that appeal to Black people.
“People went through the process and they got here, and it was all as a result of Donald Trump,” he said. “I’ve been involved in the party actively for 32 years, and I’ve never seen the excitement that has come particularly from African Americans toward the Republican presidential nominee until this year.”
Most delegates spent several thousand dollars to attend this year’s convention when the cost of travel, hotels and meals is added up. Among them is Ricardo St. Louis-Franklin of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
St. Louis-Franklin is the son of immigrant parents who didn’t identify with a party but whose politics leaned conservative. As he grew older, he found himself getting more involved in the Republican Party and is a voting delegate this year.
He said the party is continuing to make efforts to diversify its ranks, but it can be tough at times to appeal to Black voters who have been closely aligned with the Democratic Party for decades.
“So I feel as though after conventions like this, after seeing more and more, it starts with one,” he said. “It’s going to be two, then four, then eight, and it’s going to continue to grow.”
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