Michigan Republican Senate candidate John James charged in a new campaign ad Friday morning that the Democratic Party doesn't value black voters, and only want to keep blacks dependent on the government so they can stay in power.

"The Democratic business model is reliant upon keeping black folks dependent on the government," James said in the ad. "Countless people have died for our right to think and to vote for ourselves, yet Democratic leadership asks us to outsource our voice on a straight-ticket ballot to a godless party that neither represents our values nor our economic best interests."





“We've marched from Selma to New York, we’ve rebelled from Watts to Detroit, and ain’t nothing changed in 50 years," he said. "The Democratic Party leadership cares more about the black vote than the black people. And it’s time to wake up."

James, a West Point graduate who served as a commander in aviation missions in Iraq, released his new ad in Detroit on the same day that former president Barack Obama is set to visit that city to campaign for Democrat Debbie Stabenow.

James said in an interview, “The ad is not meant to divide or attack his fellow Michiganders. It is a criticism of the party leadership that took God out of its platform and left Detroit the most segregated city in America.”

Stabenow has consistently held a healthy double-digit lead over James, but has seen that cushion evaporate in the past month.

On Thursday, a Free Press poll conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing Michigan put her lead at 7 percentage points. That same poll showed her up 23 points in September.

On Oct. 29, Vice President Mike Pence will host a rally in Grand Rapids for James, who returned home from his military service to run his family's business.