Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Saturday that he believes that black voters are becoming more open to the Republican Party.
According to The Hill:
“I think there’s a lot of people who are waking up,” the neurosurgeon-turned-presidential candidate said at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.“I met with a group of black pastors yesterday and people are waking up in droves,” he continued. “I think they’re realizing what’s been happening here.”
This comes amidst a clear push by the Republican Party for the black voter demographic, especially considering how powerful the group was in helping to elect and reelect President Obama.
Carson is one of fifteen GOP candidates in the running for the 2016 election currently, and was previously a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. He was the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins at the head. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, in 2008.
Carson said that he became a Republican after hearing Ronald Reagan speak while he was growing up.
He has recently drawn controversy with his remarks regarding Donald Trump’s controversial criticism of John McCain, when he said that calling John McCain a war hero is dependent on personal definition. This stood out from most of the other candidates who immediately slammed Trump and acknowledged McCain’s status as a war hero after serving in Vietnam.