Dr. Craig Tatum, senior pastor of Saginaw's New Life Baptist Church Ministries, termed it “a great honor” that the president was considering visiting. Tatum stated, “I wasn't necessarily given any reason why things changed,” but he was cool with it because “to say the president considered our site was quite an honor itself.”
Black and union-affiliated voters make Saginaw a Democratic stronghold. However, it is surrounded by Republican communities in the greater county and has supported the winning presidential candidate in four straight elections.
After speaking to supporters on Councilman Bill Ostash and school board leader Kevin Rooker's porch, Biden met with Saginaw resident Hurley Coleman III and his 13-year-old son, Hurley Coleman IV, at a public golf course.
A township trustee outside Saginaw, Brandell Adams, chatted briefly to and took a selfie with Biden at the porch gathering, calling it a “once in a lifetime experience.” He also said he'd heard from community members who were upset the president didn't see more Black leaders.
People seem to have elevated their hopes. The crowd was small—40–50 people at most—but there was a good mix of age, gender, race, labor leadership, party leadership, and activists, Adams added. Saginaw has over 50 influential persons. If I hadn't been on that porch that day, I might have felt the same way.
Coleman III and his son were supposed to play golf with Biden, but severe weather forced them to meet in the clubhouse. Biden's campaign said a TikTok of their indoor meeting has over 1 million views.
Coleman III, the executive director of a local nonprofit, told Biden about “the needs of a Black man trying to raise his family in this community and I paralleled that with the needs of other Black people and what they need in this community.”
Coleman III said Biden was “very alert and acute to the issues that we’re facing.” “I think they made efforts, but I do believe that it could have been better,” Coleman III said. “If they can come back, it would do well to really add the voices that were missed.”
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