Republican Sheriff's Candidate Simmons

I believe that the only time anyone should start a job at the top is when it’s funded with his or her own money, therefore I won’t be voting for Mr. Simmons. But a friend told me he had listened to Simmons speak and was rather impressed so I decided to search the Citizen’s articles for information on him. I was surprised to see him listed as a republican candidate for sheriff. Given that Republican Afro-Americans are quite rare I wonder if he was a republican while working in mostly democratic Detroit. Does anyone know if he supports other GOP candidates for office? Will he vote for McCain or the democratic nominee? And how does the black community view him, will they turn out in large numbers for a republican candidate? Or is he the type of politicians who will “be” or say anything he thinks will get him elected?