Former Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Kathy Barnette criticized black Americans on a podcast Wednesday for continuing to support the Democratic Party despite what she described as being fed “rubbish” for decades.

Since the Civil Rights Era, the Democratic Party has relied heavily on black voters as a key part of its electoral coalition. During “The Sage Steele Show,” Barnette questioned this loyalty, noting that black voters typically cast 95% to 97% of their votes for Democrats.

“We need people who are willing to come and speak the hard truth, and one of those hard truths is 60 years — no one has been more loyal to the Democrat Party than black people. We vote 95 to 97% Democrat, like no one does that, right?” Barnette said.

She recalled former First Lady Michelle Obama urging voters to “just vote Democrat,” contrasting it with her experience in Wall Street, where she felt she was never told to vote blindly by party.

“I’ve worked in the Wall Street environment, I’ve worked in Corporate America and all these other different places and I’ve been the only black person in many of these rooms,” Barnette said. “I remember politicians coming in vying for these people’s votes, especially in the Wall Street environment, and I don’t ever remember them saying, ‘You just shut up and do as you’re told. You know I don’t care what we’ve said in the past. I don’t care what we’ve done in the past. You just go out here and tow that line.’”

Barnette suggested that black voters have shown Democrats how to “treat” them, comparing those who encourage blind party loyalty to slave drivers.

“But they come — instead, these politicians when they’re going to the Wall Street environment or some of these corporate entities — they come with ideas and plans on improvement and all of this,” Barnette said. “They come bearing gifts and plans, and these are ideas, and this is how we’re going to improve your situation and in the black community. We have, I believe, we teach people how to treat us. And we’ve taught people in the black community that they can give us their rubbish. They can give us the leftovers and that we will still tow that line, right?”

Barnette continued, “We have faithfuls, I call them drivers, ’cause that’s what they were called back in slavery. You had the white overseer but under the white overseer, you had these black drivers, and their job was the same as the white overseer to keep those black folks in the field towing that line.” She added that these drivers would tell black voters, “You shut up, you do as you’re told.”

While Vice President Kamala Harris has maintained significant support among black voters, former President Donald Trump has been gaining ground within this demographic. Recent data from the Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion indicates that Harris has 75% support among black voters, while Trump sits at 16%, a notable increase from the 7% he received in 2020.