Two from Alabama make the list, including Condeleeza Rice
Times staff report
While Democrat presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle for the heart and soul of the African American vote ahead of this month’s South Carolina primaries, the only black hopeful in this year’s presidential campaign can be found in the GOP.
Dr. Ben Carson is the lone black running for president in this cycle. He’s also a Republican. That means he’s unlikely to get many black votes, given that African-Americans historically favor Democrats overwhelmingly in national elections.
But that doesn’t mean most blacks eschew the Republican Party. In Alabama two years ago, 11 black candidates ran in the GOP primary, which some considered an all-time high.
Those candidates included Phillip Brown, chairman of the Alabama Minority GOP, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Public Service Commission.
Last year, Newsmaxx Media, a leading conservative news media organization, published a list of the 100 most influential African-American Republicans and included Birmingham’s Condeleeza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state; and Huntsville’s John Meredith, President and CEO of Meredith Advocacy, who is son of James Meredith, the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
Who are some of the other African-Americans to make the list of prominent Republicans?
Listed below are Newsmax’s 100 Most Influential African-American Republicans. A caveat: not everyone on the list may be actually registered Republican. But these are individuals who have a public identity as Republican or ones who lean Republican.
1. Ben Carson — renowned pediatric neurosurgeon; 2016 presidential candidate
2. Colin Powell — former secretary of state; U.S. Army general
3. Condoleezza Rice — former secretary of state
4. Clarence Thomas — Supreme Court justice
5. Mia Love — U.S. congresswoman, Utah
6. Tim Scott — U.S. senator, South Carolina
7. Jason Riley — Wall Street Journal editorial writer; author, “Please Stop Helping Us”
8. Michael Powell — former chairman, Federal Communications Commission; president, National Cable & Telecommunications Association
9. Will Hurd — Texas congressman
10. Herman Cain — businessman; 2012 presidential candidate
11. Thomas Sowell — economist; author
12. Allen West — former congressman, Florida; ex-Army officer
13. Janice Rogers Brown — federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
14. Shaquille O’Neal — retired NBA star; actor
15. Michael Steele — former chairman, Republican National Committee
16. Antonio Williams — director of government relations, Comcast/Senior Director of Government and External Affairs at Comcast
17. Deroy Murdock — nationally syndicated columnist; businessman
18. Lynn Swann — NFL Hall of Famer; 2006 Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee
19. Elbert Guillory — Louisiana state senator; former Democrat
20. Dwayne Johnson — athlete; actor
21. James “Bo Snerdley” Golden — producer, “The Rush Limbaugh Show”
22. James Earl Jones — Oscar-winning actor
23. Raynard Jackson —A Republican political consultant based in Washington, D.C. who has been involved in every Republican presidential campaign from George H. W. Bush to George W. Bush.
24. Walter Williams — economist; guest host, “The Rush Limbaugh Show”
25. Judge Lynn Toler — star of “Divorce Court”
26. LL Cool J — rapper; actor
27. Herschel Walker — retired NFL running back and Heisman Trophy winner
28. Joseph C. Phillips — actor, writer; Christian commentator
29. Shelby Steele — author, “The Content of Our Character”; documentary filmmaker
30. Joseph Louis Clark — former New Jersey high school principal portrayed by Morgan Freeman in “Lean On Me”
31. Prince — pop star
32. Alveda C. King — pro-life activist; former Georgia legislator; ex-Democrat; niece of Martin Luther King Jr.
33. Boyd Rutherford — Maryland lieutenant governor
34. Nolan Carroll — Philadelphia Eagles cornerback
35. Richard Ivory — founder, HipHopRepublican.com blog
36. Larry Elder — talk radio host; columnist
37. Jimmie “J.J.” Walker — stand-up comedian; iconic comic actor on “Good Times” in 1970s
38. Peter Kirsanow — member, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
39. Robert P. Young Jr. — chief justice, Michigan Supreme Court
40. Don King — boxing promoter
41. Star Parker — president, Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE); columnist; congressional candidate
42. Alan Keyes — former presidential candidate
43. Raphael “Raffi” Williams — deputy press secretary for Youth and Conservative Media, RNC
44. Ward Connerly — former University of California regent; affirmative action foe
45. Crystal Wright — conservativeblackchick.com blogger
46. Armstrong Williams — radio commentator; author; media entrepreneur
47. Kevin A. Ross — host, “America’s Court with Judge Ross”; former Los Angeles Superior Court judge
48. Stephen N. Lackey — corporate philanthropist; GOP fundraiser
49. Michael L. Williams — former Texas commissioner of education
50. B.J. Penn — assistant secretary of the Navy under George W. Bush
51. Conrad James — scientist; member, University of New Mexico Board of Regents; New Mexico House of Representatives,
52. Robert J. Brown — CEO & Founder of B&C International, a global business management consulting firm headquartered in High Point, NC.
53. Harold Doley — Doley Securities. investment banker and founder of Doley Securities, LLC., the oldest African American owned investment-banking firm in the United States.
54. Logan Delany — Delany Capital; treasurer, Ben Carson Organization
55. Alvin Williams — Black America’s Political Action Committee
56. Robert A. George — New York Post editorial writer
57. Amy Russell — clerk for U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. in Arkansas
58. Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert — New Mexico legislator
59. Karl Malone — retired NBA great
60. Niger Innis — national spokesman, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); former Nevada congressional candidate
61. Neal E. Boyd — pop opera singer; “America’s Got Talent” winner; candidate, Missouri legislature
62. Kay James — president, Gloucester Institute; former George W. Bush administration official
63. Erika Harold — Miss America 2003; 2014 congressional candidate in Illinois
64. Damon Dunn — former NFL wide receiver; real estate investor; Long Beach, California, mayoral candidate
65. Thomas Stith — chief of staff for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, leading governor’s “Innovation to Jobs” initiative
66. Robert Woodson — president, National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise
67. Sheryl Underwood — comedian; CBS “The Talk” commentator
68. David Tyree — retired NFL wide receiver; New York Giants director of player development; pro-family activist
69. Bruce Harris — nominated by Gov. Christie and defeated by state Democrats to be New Jersey’s first openly homosexual supreme court justice; former mayor of Chatham, N.J.
70. Orlando Watson — black media communications director, Republican National Committee
71. Scott Turner — Texas state legislator; retired NFL defensive back
72. Dale Wainwright — attorney, Bracewell & Giuliani; former associate justice, Texas Supreme Court
73. Stacey Dash — actress; Fox News commentator
74. Jackie Winters — Oregon state senator
75. Patricia Funderburk Ware — HIV/AIDS expert who served in Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations
76. Chidike Okeem — Nigerian-born, London-raised blogger
77. J.A. Parker — president, Lincoln Institute; publisher, The Lincoln Review
78. Nadra Enzi — “The Hood Conservative,” New Orleans-based anti-crime activist
79. Mike Hill — Florida state legislator
80. Sonja Schmidt — PJTV commentator
81. Chelsi P. Henry — entrepreneur; political strategist
82. Joseph Perkins — columnist, Orange County Register
83. Carson Ross — mayor, Blue Springs Missouri
84. William Barclay Allen — former chairman, U.S. Civil Rights Commission; candidate for U.S. Senate in California
85. Clarence M. Mitchell IV — “C4,” Baltimore talk radio personality
86. Deneen Borelli — author, “Blacklash”; FreedomWorks outreach director
87. John Meredith — lobbyist; son of civil rights pioneer James Meredith
88. Bill Hardiman — Michigan state veterans services administrator; former mayor, Kentwood, Michigan; former state senator and congressional candidate
89. Jill Upson — West Virginia legislator
90. Ken Blackwell — former Cincinnati mayor, Ohio secretary of state, and GOP gubernatorial nominee
91. Vernon Robinson — campaign director for Draft Ben Carson movement; former North Carolina congressional candidate
92. Amy Holmes — news anchor, TheBlaze TV
93. Dr. Elaina George — otolaryngologist; ObamaCare critic
94. Tony Childress — sheriff, Livingston County, Illinois
95. Larry Dean Thompson — George W. Bush deputy attorney general
96. Kevin Jackson — host, “Black Sphere” radio show
97. Michel Faulkner — retired New York Jets defensive lineman; New York City pastor; 2010 congressional nominee against Rep. Charles Rangel
98. Ryan Frazier — investment consultant; former Colorado congressional candidate; Mitt Romney adviser
99. Brian C. Roseboro — international banker; George W. Bush Treasury Department official
100. David Webb — talk radio host; political columnist
Source: Newsmax Media.
