Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a once-prominent Democrat who is now a supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump, will be a featured speaker at the Oakland County GOP Lincoln Day dinner in Novi next week, an official announced Tuesday.
Vance Patrick, chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party, announced on the social media platform X that Kilpatrick will speak at the Suburban Collection Showplace Aug. 21.
“When I asked him, there was a long pause, and he said, ‘I would be honored to be involved with this event,’ ” Patrick told the Free Press on Tuesday.
Kilpatrick was a Democratic leader in the Michigan Legislature before serving as mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. But he has become a supporter of the former GOP president since Trump, in 2021, commuted the 28-year federal prison sentence Kilpatrick received in 2013 after he was convicted of corruption crimes, including racketeering, extortion and fraud.
Kilpatrick attended a Trump rally in Saginaw in May . And at an event in Farmington Hills in June, he urged a predominantly Black audience to publicly proclaim their support for Trump , who is seeking a second four-year term as president in November after losing a bid for reelection to President Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump has touted his support from Black voters during the current campaign, though recent polls show Vice President Kamala Harris, who has replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee, is performing better among Black voters than Biden did.
Patrick said former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson, remains the keynote speaker.Patrick acknowledged Kilpatrick brings baggage with his corruption convictions, but said he heard him speak recently in Farmington Hills and "he is definitely a changed man" and "the real deal."Patrick said discussions are still early, but he hopes to have Kilpatrick out stumping for Republican candidates in Oakland County and beyond.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to address GOP Lincoln Day dinner in Novi
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