Getting Republican votes in the city of Detroit has never been easy.
Nancy Derringer of Bridge Magazine writes about the challenges, and follows around Wayne Bradley, the state director of African-American engagement for the GOP.
Bradley heads over to Dixon's Barber Shop on Livernois near 7 Mile Road on the city's northwest side, where he's gotten his haircut all his life,
Wayne Bradley (Photo by Nancy Derringer)
Derringer reports.
Bradley is undaunted. He shakes hands and passes out a piece of literature touting Gov. Rick Snyder’s work on behalf of the city; he has “put the reinvention of Detroit among his highest priorities…Increased access to affordable healthcare for 470,000 Michigan citizens.”
Barber Kenneth Reid listens for a few moments as Bradley talks of the good things happening in Detroit – street lights coming back on, more police on the street. Reid listens politely as he works on the head in front of him. But he’s not agreeing with Bradley’s pitch, and when asked directly if he is a Republican, Reid answers, “Actually, I am not.”
GOP candidates like Mitt Romney expectedly get few votes in Detroit. Romney got 6 percent of the African-American vote in Detroit in 2012.
Derringer writes:
There could hardly be a more daunting task than selling the Republican Party in Detroit. With enormous African-American majorities, the city votes so reliably Democratic that November elections are usually anticlimactic; the real action takes place in the Democratic primaries for local races months earlier.
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