PHILADELPHIA — A smoke-drenched cigar bar nestled in an overwhelmingly liberal neighborhood in the bluest of cites made for an unlikely setting for Republicans to make their case to a group of voters that have long eluded their party: Black men.

Two of Donald Trump’s most prominent Black surrogates, Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, ventured into Philadelphia on Tuesday evening to make their pitch at an event billed as “Congress, Cognac and Cigars.”

Between sips of Remy Martin and Hennessey and drags on Romeo Y Julieta cigars, the two Republicans tried to persuade the racially mixed, largely Black audience on why more Black voters would benefit from abandoning the Democratic Party.

“We were better off under Republicans than we were Democrats,” Hunt said, leaning forward in his seat on an elevated platform, to get closer to the crowd of about 100 people gathered at The Cigar Code. “The reason why the Democrats have a hold on the Black community is because our parents’ parents’ parents keep telling us, ‘You got to vote Democrat.’”

“It’s up to us in this generation to say, well, why?” Hunt added.

The intimate panel discussion, moderated by former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, was part of a broader effort by Trump and his allies to make inroads with Black voters in major urban centers and chip away at the support for President Joe Biden. A major shift would represent a generational racial realignment among the political parties.

Donalds, who is rumored to be on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, suggested many Black voters are inherently conservative, and are slowly coming to the realization that the Republican Party more closely aligns with their values.

“That’s what’s happening in the Black community,” Donalds said as the conversation progressed, while asking for a refill. “And that’s why you’re seeing the politics of the Black community starting to shift back towards being conservative minded.”

Donalds and Hunt pointed to mounting evidence in public surveys that suggest an erosion in Biden’s support among Black and Hispanic voters. A recent New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll of five key swing states found more than one in five Black voters would vote for Trump in a head to head with Biden.

“I don’t think 20 percent in 2024 is the end,” Donalds added. “I think 20 percent in 2024 is the beginning!” The remark brought a smattering of light applause from the crowd, some of them blowing light smoke clouds and one woman even shouting “Amen!”

While Pennsylvania is key to both party’s fortunes in 2024, Philadelphia is largely considered Biden’s turf.

The president held a campaign rally at the predominantly Black Girard College just last week with Vice President Kamala Harris, highlighting the ways their administration had made the lives of Black Americans better, including by creating programs to forgive student loan debt and encourage business ownership. Biden also used that as an opportunity to tear into Trump’s record on race, reminding them that “Trump is the same guy who unleashed the birtherism lie against Barack.”

The Republican lawmakers scoffed at descriptions of Trump as a racist, claiming that Biden and Harris have enacted policies that have caused more harm to Black Americans than Trump. Hunt cited Harris’ record as the attorney general of California, when she secured convictions of hundreds people for marijuana possession and attacked Biden for his role in crafting the 1994 crime bill that disproportionately impacted Black and brown Americans.

“Let’s talk about the racism, here,” Hunt said.

The cognac and cigars event began just hours after the Republican National Committee celebrated the opening of a campaign office in north Philadelphia. Hunt was billed as the special guest but Trump was not present. One attendee asked the lawmakers if they could talk Trump into coming to the city.

The pair of Philadelphia gatherings also reveal the limits of Trump’s outreach strategy. Few attended the event who were not already self-identified Black Republicans, and there seemed to be few plans in place for identifying those on the fence or how to go about bringing more into the fold.

One attendee decked in Trump paraphernalia refused to talk to POLITICO and said she only did paid interviews. A woman stood up and said she came to conservatism after “the Democratic Party fired me” for not taking the Covid vaccine.

Another, when asked why she attended, said she was there for the cigars and cognac, but failed to look closely enough at the flier to realize it was a Republican-led event. She left halfway through the program.

Donalds and Hunt plan to continue events like the one in Philadelphia, taking the road show to other major cities in key swing states with big Black populations, including a potential one in Atlanta later this month to coincide with CNN’s June 27 debate between Trump and Biden.