DeeAndrew Hogan didn’t recognize the group that stopped him for an interview outside Bowie State University’s student center.

“Has the absence of fathers in homes affected Black success?” a man with a microphone asked him. “Do government welfare programs create long-term dependence?”

Hogan, a junior at the historically Black university in Prince George’s County, declined to answer most of the questions.

The interview, Hogan would later learn, was for Blexit, a group that aims to convince Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party and become conservatives. Siaka Massaquoi, a conservative commentator, was asking the questions.

Originally founded by conservative commentators Candace Owens and Brandon Tatum, Blexit has over 50 chapters and 300 “city hubs,” according to the group’s website, which is adorned with quotes from Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King Jr. and conservative talk show host Larry Elder. It’s affiliated with Turning Point USA, the conservative student group co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

Blexit is on a tour of HBCU campuses during their homecoming celebrations, part of an effort to recruit Black college-age voters. According to the Pew Research Center, about 83% of Black voters are Democrats or lean liberal.

In an interview with The Banner, Hogan said he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

The point of the campus tour was not to change opinions right away, said Madison Wells-James, who recently joined Blexit’s Maryland chapter. The group says it has 320 members in the state.

“I wanted to get involved and do something to help my community, because I really do have a heart for young Black Americans like myself that have fallen into the victimhood mentality in the past,” Wells-James said.

A 2023 graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, Wells-James said she became conservative while in college. It was at the state’s flagship university that she began subscribing to “alternative forms of media” like The Daily Wire, a conservative news outlet.

At Bowie State, her first campus visit with Blexit, she hopes to “plant seeds” and get students to “critically think about their positions.”

But it’s hard to plant seeds when students are unwilling to participate.

The first hour of their event, Massaquoi only spoke to one student, Hogan. That could be because the first location the group was in was partially blocked off by a golf cart, operated by a Bowie State employee. Several members of the Bowie State communications office hovered nearby.

Massaquoi’s second attempt was on two first-year students. He only managed to get their names before two sophomores who knew them saw what was happening and pulled them away.

Antonette Lamin, a junior from Iowa, agreed to speak with Massaquoi on camera. She told The Banner after the interview that she was familiar with what Blexit was and that she is liberal but doesn’t identify with a particular political party.

“I think the conversation is important,” she said. “I do think they were trying to get reactions, though.”

Lamin answered a few questions on camera, including whether she thought Gen Z was more focused on being morally right or socially accepted (she chose the latter) and whether traditional Christian values align more with liberals or conservatives (she said she doesn’t “pay much attention to religion”).

Not all at the university were so open to engaging.

“Is this the conservative group?” one student asked as he walked by.

“Yes!” Massaquoi answered excitedly.

“Alright,” said the student with a smirk as he walked away, muttering under his breath, “good luck.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.