Michigan Republican Party using ex-mayor, a convicted felon, in radio ad in Detroit

The Michigan Republican Party said Tuesday that it’s running radio ads in Detroit using former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted of 24 felonies and labeled “a notorious and unrepentant criminal” by a Republican U.S. attorney, to promote GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Trump commuted Kilpatrick’s sentence as one of his final acts as president in January 2021, 16 years before Kilpatrick was initially set to be released from federal prison. The ex-mayor, once viewed as a rising star in Democratic politics, endorsed Trump in June.

“The Michigan Republican Party released today a radio ad featuring former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick,” a statement from the Michigan GOP said. “The radio ad will run on stations throughout the Detroit DMA (designated market area) for the next two weeks.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the Michigan Republican Party was spending to air the one-minute ad.

“This election is about the survival of our nation,” Kilpatrick says in the ad. “It’s about the survival of our children. It’s about the survival of our economy. And when people are set against us in war, it matters that you send a firefighter into the room. I want Trump in the room.”

The audio released Tuesday didn’t appear to identify Kilpatrick, but a video link described it as a “message from Kwame Kilpatrick.”

Trump is currently competing for votes in Michigan with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Detroit is Michigan’s largest city, majority Black and a longtime Democratic stronghold.

Harris will be in Metro Detroit on Thursday to participate in a virtual event with talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The Michigan Republican Party revealed the new Kilpatrick radio ad the same day Trump is visiting Michigan for a town hall campaign event in Flint, another majority Black city and Democratic stronghold.

Kilpatrick, who was convicted in 2013, was about seven years into his sentence for his role in a City Hall racketeering and bribery scheme when Trump commuted his sentence.

“This commutation is strongly supported by prominent members of the Detroit community,” the Trump White House said in a statement in January 2021.

Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson had been convicted following a six-month trial when a federal jury found they turned City Hall into a “money-making machine,” squeezing millions of dollars out of government contracts and spending the money on luxury lifestyles.

In a statement in January 2021, Matthew Schneider, who was the U.S. attorney for Michigan’s Eastern District and nominated for the job by Trump, called Kilpatrick “a notorious and unrepentant criminal” and noted he “remains convicted of 24 felonies.”

“My position on the disgraced former mayor of Detroit has not changed,” Schneider said at the time. “Kwame Kilpatrick has earned every day he served in federal prison for the horrible crimes he committed against the People of Detroit.”

cmauger@detroitnews.com