New Jersey Black Republicans: Meet William "Billy" Prempeh

By Mark Tyler, Publisher of Atlantic City Focus, and 

Lilo H. Stainton, Health Care Reporter, NJ Spotlight News

William “Billy” Prempeh’s journey to becoming the Republican candidate for New Jersey’s 9th District Congressional seat began with a deep personal transformation.

The 9th District includes Prempeh’s hometown of Paterson and other municipalities in Bergen and Passaic counties. The Congressional seat that he is seeking was left vacant by the death, earlier this year, of former Democrat Bill Pascrell. Prempeh is now running against Democrat Nellie Pou, along with Green Party and Libertarian candidates.

Prempeh grew up embracing all the traditional, political social norms. For Prempeh and a great many people in the Black community, it was as simple as black and white. “The white people are Republicans. The Black people are Democrats, and if you support the Republicans, then you’re a racist,” Prempeh said, explaining his former beliefs. However, that was before he began to investigate the issues and think for himself. “I was brainwashed,” Prempeh admitted. “I was like, I don’t want to hear what any of these Republicans are talking about. They only want money for the rich and they don’t care about Black people.” Then a white friend challenged him on his political views. The challenge forced him to examine why he believed as he did. Through the self-examination he discovered his values were more aligned with what Republicans espouse than with Democrats. Prempeh, a 34-year-old natural born citizen, whose parents legally immigrated from Ghana, believes in school choice. He is vehemently against abortion and loathes the origin of Planned Parenthood, because it promoted abortion in poor Black communities. He doesn’t believe in institutional racism, and he isn’t a big fan of equity because he believes everyone should be able to thrive based on ability and hard work. Prempeh said the Republican Party welcomes those who want to be successful, regardless of race. “I don't think people should use race as a determining factor as to what they vote for,” Prempeh said. “I believe that people should focus on policy and what the individual brings to the table rather than party ideology. What they stand for, that's far more important because when we get blinded by party, we never move forward.” 

More than 1.1 million New Jerseyans are Black, making up about 12% of the state’s population, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

In 2022, the bureau estimates that roughly 42% of Blacks who were eligible to vote cast ballots. That percentage is likely to be higher this year because more people tend to vote in presidential elections.

A 2014 report from the Pew Research Center estimated that only 5% of Blacks identified as Republican or leaning Republican at the time.

5% https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/database/state/new-jersey/party-affiliation/

Prempeh became a Republican in 2009, after voting for 44th President Barack Obama in 2008. “When Barack Obama was running for president, I was excited because everyone was excited,” Prempeh explained. “I didn’t know what he was going to do or what he stood for, other than he’s going to bring hope and change.” In 2009, Prempeh enlisted in the United States Air Force, in part, because he wanted to serve under Obama as Commander in Chief. But Operation Odyssey Dawn and 2011 military action in the African nation of Libya shattered his view of Obama and Democratic foreign policy. Coming from a family of legal African immigrants, Prempeh had family members who were familiar with Libya. Muammar Qaddafi’s goal was to create the United States of Africa, a concept that took its origins from Marcus Garvey in 1924. Under Qaddafi’s proposal, Africa would develop a single gold-backed currency, military force, and a passport that would allow Africans to freely access the entire continent. Qaddafi also planned to invite Caribbean nations such as Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas into the fold. The proposed federation, if successful, would have controlled the largest territory of any state including the Russian Federation and would have had the third most heavily populated state after India and China. “Libya was the closest thing to a first world nation in Africa,” Prempeh said. “Many people from all across Africa went there for education and economic purposes and when I started to do my research on Libya, it was the complete opposite from what I’ve been told here in the United States.” According to published reports, Operation Odyssey Dawn, established a no-fly zone in Libya to prevent Qaddafi from bombing civilians and anti-Qaddafi opposition forces. Prempeh said that after a thorough examination, he didn’t understand why the United States found it necessary to intervene. But once Qaddafi was killed, it left a power vacuum that gave rise to the Isis terror organization and a modern slave market that still exists, which preys upon African immigrants trying to reach Europe. Prempeh said he believes that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have a better handle on foreign policy and support initiatives that create opportunity, rather than social programs that amount to government handouts. “I’m actually a conservative person. I believe in God. I believe in the sanctity of life. I believe I need the right to defend myself,” Prempeh said. “All these things that I think would be common sense, and I figured the Democrats also believed it — I later found out, over time, that they don’t believe any of the things that I believe in, and actually I’m not a Democrat at all.”

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