A tale of two black voters in Texas shows how Trump has broken up old party loyalties

HOUSTON — These two black voters broke in opposite directions in the 2024 election — and it shows how much former President Trump has shaken up old party loyalties.

George Smith, 67, said he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday because he feels she’s the best candidate on the economy.

On the other hand, Johnny Mitchell, 47, said he’s all in for Trump because he believes the former president’s goal “is to have the country come together and be in a better place than it was before.”

While Trump has made strides in gaining more votes from the black community, Smith told The Post he’s not convinced by his outreach and urged fellow black men against voting for Trump.

“I want to talk to the black men right now …. there’s been rumors that y’all don’t want to get behind Kamala Harris. This is a sister, we need to support her,” said Smith.

“The first day he [Trump] is in office, he wants the police to do brutality, blood and brutality against us. We are already being targeted, so we need to change that. We don’t need to cast a vote for someone who wants to do us harm,” he said.

Mitchell said his vote goes beyond the color of his skin.

“More so than it just being a color thing, I personally believe if Kamala was the best candidate initially, President Biden would have endorsed her from the beginning and put her up front. I just believe the economy was in a better place when Trump was in office,” said Mitchell.

Both Smith and Mitchell cast their ballots in Texas’ deep blue Harris County, which President Biden won with 56% of the vote in 2020.

More than 100,000 voters turned out in the pouring rain Tuesday morning, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Democrats had nearly 90% of the black community’s support four years ago, but the tide is slowly starting to turn. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll released last month, roughly 15% of likely black voters said they’d vote for Trump, marking a six-point jump for the 45th president from 2020.

In Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, black voters are registering 22% support for Trump, up from 8 percent in 2020.

Mark Fisher, who co-founded a Black Lives Matter chapter in Rhode Island, recently announced he’s backing Trump after being a lifelong Democrat.

“We’ve been used and abused for so long by that party, they don’t value our vote,” Fisher said. “Their policies are basically racist policies. I believe it’s a racist party. Donald Trump is just the opposite. He’s going to tell you how it is. He’s going to give it to you straight.” 

“Trump has done more for the black community than any president I can think of in my lifetime,” he continued. 

Also at the polls Tuesday was Selena Hall — who said she was voting for the first time in her life. She told The Post it was an “emotional” moment. Hall, a 26-year-old Hispanic woman, cast her vote for Trump because she’s concerned about the economy.

“The economy definitely is the biggest issue. The price for everything is just going up and these poor families can’t even afford anything. It’s my first time voting so it’s definitely a big impact on everything. It’s very emotional too, super emotional, like I get to do this,” said Hall.

“Now that I live alone and I pay for my own things and I’m doing my own things, I’m starting to understand now the more you grow older, the more that you understand about this economy and how bad it’s been. Go Trump!”