T.W. Shannon, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Oklahoma and a former chair of Black Voices for Trump, said Republicans can preserve and build on their gains with Black voters in the 2026 midterm elections even though President Donald Trump will not be on the ballot.
Shannon made the argument in an interview on the sidelines of the first-ever GOP midterm convention in Dallas, where he delivered a primetime speech. He pointed to Trump's performance in the 2024 presidential race, when the president won 16 percent of the Black vote, according to a Fox News Voter Analysis, nearly double his share four years earlier.
«It's because Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party back into the working party,» Shannon said. «You see Democrats competing for the Black vote now. Something that you used to not see at all. They didn't have to, they just took it for granted.»
Shannon, a Lawton native who in 2013 became the youngest and first African American speaker of the Oklahoma House and the first member of the Chickasaw Nation to hold that office, argued that the party's economic record will continue to appeal to Black communities. He cited job creation and declining crime rates during the second Trump administration, saying those developments «actually benefit Black voters and Black communities.»
He also sought to tie Democratic candidates to the Democratic Socialists of America, saying that the group's platform — which he described as including tax increases, eliminating the Senate, and disbanding police departments — is out of step with Black voters. «These are not things that are well received in the Black community,» Shannon said.
The Democratic National Committee rejected that framing. A DNC spokesperson said Black Americans will reject what the spokesperson called Trump's «billionaires-first, cost-raising agenda» at the ballot box in November and will instead elect Democrats focused on lowering costs and delivering for working families. The spokesperson added that the DNC is investing resources to reach, register, and mobilize Black voters nationwide, and accused the Trump administration of attacking civil and voting rights while Democrats fight to protect the core of democracy.
Shannon's appearance at the Dallas convention marked a turn on the national stage for a politician who is heavily favored to win the lieutenant governorship in solidly Republican Oklahoma. He said he welcomes any opportunity to promote his state and the country. «Any time I get a chance to tell the story about how great Oklahoma is and how great America is, I won't miss a chance to do it,» he said.
The midterm elections will test whether the Republican Party's improved margins among Black voters in 2024 reflected a durable realignment or a temporary shift tied to Trump's presence at the top of the ticket. Shannon's argument is that the party's economic message and the Democrats' leftward turn will keep those voters in the Republican column. Democrats, meanwhile, are betting that cost-of-living concerns and voting-rights fights will drive Black turnout their way.
Both parties are treating Black voters as a central battleground in 2026, with the DNC describing its outreach as a critical investment and Republicans using their first midterm convention to showcase diverse voices. How that competition plays out across states and districts will help determine control of Congress and the shape of the next administration.