MD Gov. Moore: Young Black Men Leaning Republican Because ‘Frustration of the Pace of Progress’

Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that a quarter of black men under 50 said they would support the Republican candidate in this year’s election because of “frustration of the pace of progress in America.”

Partial transcript as follows:

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about the Harris campaign, because you are out campaigning for them, and there’s a big push in the coming days to focus in on black voters in particular. The NAACP released a poll on Friday that showed while black Americans overwhelmingly identify as Democrats, over one quarter of black men under 50 said they would support the Republican candidate in this year’s election. Why do you think that younger male black voters are changing their association like this?

MOORE: You know, I think there is a, you know, especially for younger black men, there is a frustration. But it’s not necessarily frustration with Vice President Harris, and it’s not even frustration with the Democratic Party. Frankly, it’s a frustration of the pace of progress in America. You know, I think about my state, in my state, when I was inaugurated, we had an 8 to 1 racial wealth gap in the state of Maryland, and that’s not because one group was working eight times harder. That’s because of historical policies and circumstances. When I’m I’m the third African American ever elected governor in the history of the United States. That’s not because I’m only the third African American ever qualified to be a governor. And so I think the thing that we continue to see, and frankly, I think that debate was actually a perfect illustration. Where for many of us, we grew up being told by our family members, you’ve got to work 10 times as hard in order to get ahead, in order to get an opportunity. We saw Donald Trump walk on that debate stage uniquely and historically unprepared. And because he thinks he can win on a whim. And so I think the frustration that people feel is real, but I think the thing that we’re continuing to push to a lot of voters, particularly African American voters, is that Donald Trump is a vessel to the skepticism, but what he is not is actually a vehicle for the solution.

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