Detroit-based Pastor Lorenzo Sewell said on Wednesday that “we need to stop” playing identity politics, reacting to Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“It would be amazing to have the first Black woman president, I think that would be cool,” Sewell, the pastor of 180 Church on Detroit’s west side, told ABC 7.
“But we need to stop playing identify politics as well,” he added.
The pastor, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week, went on to say, “You don’t have anything more powerful in America than a Black woman, so I understand there are allegiances there, but sometimes that can be misguided. I’ve had people call me this afternoon and say ‘vote for Kamala Harris because she’s Black.’ That doesn’t resonate with me right?”
Lorenzo Sewell, Pastor of 180 Church, spoke at the Republican National Convention last week. (Getty Images)
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ABC 7 reported further that Sewell said that he has not publicly endorsed any candidate for the 2024 presidential election and that he never intended being “front and center with the Trump campaign.”
Sewell hosted former President Trump at his church in June in addition to speaking at the RNC last week.
“If President Trump would’ve moved just a millimeter, we would not be hearing tonight how he is going to make America great again,” Sewell said at the GOP convention.
Sewell added that the Black community has been “hurting” under the Democratic leadership.
“When we look at our community, we see clearly that our community is hurting and it’s been under Democratic leadership,” Sewell said.
“I’m not saying for the last 60 years Democrats are doing the wrong thing. What I’m saying is that when you look at our community, specifically Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw, we’re hurting. And the Republican Party is saying ‘I want to have a conversation.'”
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Getty Images)
Furthermore, Sewell said that a growing number of Black men are shifting support toward the Republican Party.
The ABC local affiliate also interviewed Black voters about their thoughts on Trump.
Tayson Stewart, 27, said that “Trump looks like he’s trying to help us.”
“… he looks like he knows what he’s talking about,” Detroit-based Stewart said.
“The Black voters are asleep. They are going to vote for Kamala because they following Biden, and don’t do it. Trump really trying to help us, that’s what I think.”
“I’m terrified if that man is in there,” Detroit-based Leon Crosby, 57, said about Trump.
“I’d be terrified as an African American,” Crosby added.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at West Allis Central High School on July 23, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin. Harris made her first campaign appearance as the party’s presidential candidate, with an endorsement from President Biden. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images) (Jim Vondruska / Stringer)
Trump, who was formally nominated last week at the Republican National Convention as the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee, stands at 46% support among registered voters in an NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll released on Tuesday.
Harris, who on Monday night announced that she’d locked up her party’s nomination by landing commitments of backing from a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, stood at 45% support.
The poll was conducted on Monday, the day after President Biden‘s announcement that he was ending his 2024 re-election rematch with Trump.
Sewell’s comments came amid Harris facing scrutiny over her qualifications to be commander in chief.
Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett on Monday called Harris a “DEI hire” in an interview with CNN, suggesting that Harris was selected as vice president solely because she was a Black woman.
“One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” Burchett told CNN’s Manu Raju. He continued, “Her record is abysmal at best.”
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Although some in the GOP are urging the Trump campaign to stick to criticizing Harris over her policy positions.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.