Despite several Black Republicans campaigning for him in the 2024 election cycle, President-elect Donald Trump has yet to name any of them to his administration.
From U.S. Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., to U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, John James, R-Mich., and Burgess Owens, R-Utah, Trump has a pool of Black Republicans to select from. Several of them traveled on behalf of the Trump-Vance campaign in an attempt to court Black voters, namely Black men, which included barbershop talks and other community events.
“Donald Trump campaigned around the country that he will help Black people, [told] Black people, ‘What do we have to lose?’ and that he will create Black jobs. We’re still wondering where the jobs are,” said Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC. “He’s clearly not demonstrated an ability to diversify his administration to be representative of the things he claimed on the campaign trail.”
Rep. James, who notably told Black voters, “If you don’t vote for Donald Trump, you ain’t Black” at the Republican National Convention, was praised by Trump during a July rally in Michigan, where he told his supporters that he would put James “in charge” of bringing back the auto industry when it was at its “height” in the state. It’s not clear what exact job he was referring to.
Days before Election Day, at a rally in Macon, Georgia, 2022 Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker campaigned for Trump (despite mispronouncing his name). During the event, Trump vowed to, if elected, place Walker in charge of a new missile defense shield, though the former NFL player has no such experience in national security.
Ben Carson, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Trump’s first term, dispelled rumors that he was being considered for U.S. surgeon general. However, he said on X that he would meet with Trump in the “near future” to discuss how he could “advance the America First agenda.”
“It’s certainly noticeable that the Trump White House cabinet and that the Trump team has not featured any Black faces and Black voices in high-profile roles yet,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne. “That speaks a little bit to their assessment of who they believe are the best and the brightest, and I think that the picks that the president and his team have made speak for themselves.”
When asked by CNN’s Laura Coates about not being named to the Trump administration, Rep. Donalds said, “I am not surprised that I have not been named.” He added, “But that does not mean I’m not going to do other things in the future.”
Donalds is rumored to be considering a bid for Florida governor in 2026. He could also run for U.S. Senate if Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio, is confirmed.
Many of Trump’s appointments and nominations have caused controversy, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is the subject of an ethics investigation involving allegations that he slept with a minor during an alleged drug-fueled sex party. Trump’s defense secretary nominee, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman he reportedly paid off as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Trump also named former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, despite no health experience and pushing debunked anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
“They’re giving away cabinet secretaries like consolation prizes,” said Reecie Colbert, a political commentator and host of Sirius XM’s “The Reecie Colbert Show.”
She told theGrio, “It shows how little value these folks carry. They’re the mules of the Republican Party, not who [Republicans] consider to be leaders.”
Instead, Colbert told theGrio, Trump “played in Black people’s faces” to garner votes and had no intention to court Black Americans as a long-term goal.
“It was never a courtship. It was a dissuasion campaign against [Black men],” she added. “There’s nothing that Black men are getting from a prospective Trump administration, aside from things that are detrimental to the well-being of Black men and the Black community.”
Brown of Color of Change PAC noted that having no Black leader named to the Trump cabinet as of yet also signals that the harms to Black communities laid out in the pro-Trump policy manifesto Project 2025 could be on the horizon.
“This execution of making sure that Black people are not at the top levers of power in this country is … representative of that,” he argued. “It actually just shows what the agenda is about and who the agenda is targeting.”
However, regardless of whether Trump selects a Black Republican leader as part of his administration, Brown emphasized, “That doesn’t mean that that’s also safe for our community.”
He explained, “They would still have to agree to serve in a government that is dismantling the Department of Education, that is dismantling DEI programs, which actually open opportunities for Black people to access economic and professional opportunities, to access education, etc.”
Brown continued, “There are two sides to this coin where, yes, there’s no diversity of representation, and that is by design.” He added, “But also the people that look like us, who would be considered for those roles, would not have been helping us. They would have been helping Donald Trump.”
Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.
