Southside Republicans leader says Trump should focus on economic opportunities, not abortion

FIRST ON FOX: Abortion is not a primary issue on the ballot for Black voters this election, according to Chicago Southside Republicans Chair Devin Jones. Instead, he said, Black voters – particularly men – are much more concerned about financial opportunities and entrepreneurship.

“I think if the Trump campaign definitely hit harder on the issues that specifically impact the Black community, for instance, inflation, which has made it harder to afford basic necessities, I think there is a jobs crisis, unemployment and an entrepreneurship crisis in the Black community,” Jones told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And so if there were surrogates who specifically outlined policies that talked about those things and directed it to the Black community.”

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, hopes to earn more of the Black vote in what is turning out to be a neck and neck race against Vice President Harris, the Democrat nominee, and has previously said he’s growing in popularity among Black men.

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Republican presidential nominee former President Trump responds to a question from a reporter during a campaign event in Howell, Mich. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

During Trump’s first term, he championed several initiatives aimed at Black voters, including opportunity zones and funding historically black colleges. 

“This is a very progressive area,” Jones said of Chicago. “And a lot of our issues, as far as joblessness, the housing crisis, the lack of entrepreneurship opportunities, is because of a state and local government that produces heavy regulation, heavy taxation, which means that there’s less opportunity. So, I think if he could speak to how at the federal level he would be a partner to us as we fight against local overreach, that would go a long way to capturing kind of those on the fence and even some Black Democrats.”

Jones also said when he’s talking to people on the ground, he doesn’t normally “hear people talking about abortion like that,” even though the issue of abortion has been catapulted in recent weeks to the spotlight for both the Democrat and Republican platforms. 

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Arizona residents rally for abortion rights in Phoenix after the state Supreme Court ruled that an abortion ban law from 1864 is enforceable. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“Abortion is an issue because the vast majority of abortions are because of financial issues,” Jones said. “So, if you remedy the lack of economic opportunity and ability to provide for families, you will see a decrease in abortion,” Jones said. “Now me, personally, I would like to see President Trump and any Republican have a hard line stance against abortion.”

Trump’s latest – and clearest – comments about Florida’s Amendment 4, which would upend the state’s ban on abortions after six weeks’ gestation and enshrine a constitutional right to abortion in the state, may blunt some of the criticism he’s received from pro-life advocates. After Trump made remarks on Thursday that appeared to indicate he might back the amendment, he told Fox News Channel’s Bryan Llenas on Friday afternoon: “I’ll be voting ‘no.'”

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Pro-life activists protest Aug. 20, outside a Planned Parenthood mobile van offering free vasectomies and medicinal abortions near the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Fox News Digital)

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Florida voters will have the final say on Amendment 4 at the polls in November.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.