Two popular GOP leaders are urging Republican office-seekers and holders to embed themselves in unfamiliar territories such as black and Latino communities to keep the party from fading.
“Our party needs a little more [common] sense in this space if we’re going to be successful,” said Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy, a close Trump adviser who has good ties to minorities in his district.
“As a party, we’ll sometimes talk to the African-American community, or the Hispanic community, six months before an election. And Democrats are there every month, every year, year over year,” he said in his first podcast of the year, during which he talked politics and policy with fellow Rep. Will Hurd.
On Duffy’s podcast available on iTunes, which the former competitive lumberjack calls a “Plaidcast,” for the red and black shirts he wore in log rolling and climbing contests, Hurd, the lone black Republican in the House, explained his secret to winning three consecutive elections.
“We have to engage people in areas that Republicans haven’t always gone to,” said Hurd, whose Texas district includes over 800 miles on the U.S.-Mexico border and is 71 percent Hispanic and 50 percent Democratic.
“People ask me, ‘How did a black dude get elected in a Latino district?’ It’s real simple: Show up in communities and talk about things they care about,” he said.
He described how he won over a Latino border community on the Rio Grande river.
“I’m in Eagle Pass, and I show up to a tardeada, tardeada is an afternoon party, and there’s about 400 people there and some local officials were in the band that was playing and they literally stopped playing when they saw me walk in. And I had 202 people come up to me and ask, ‘Why are you here?’ And my response was, ‘Because I like to drink beer and eat cabrito too.’ And the second time I showed up, guess what, people shook my hand. And the third time I showed up people would walk by and whisper, ‘I’m a Republican.’ And then the fourth time they told me about a problem. The fifth time I came in and solved that problem,” Hurd said.
“We have to engage people in areas that Republicans haven’t always gone to,” he said.
With the GOP base shrinking, said Hurd, “we have to appeal to people who may not necessarily identify with our brand; however, our principles of limited government, our principles of economic freedom, our principles of helping everybody move up the economic ladder, these are timeless things.”
[Also read: White suburbia is the source of Trump’s Texas troubles]
His concern about the GOP base was backed up in a new Pew Research Center survey out Wednesday that said in 2020, “Nonwhites will account for a third of eligible voters — their largest share ever — driven by long-term increases among certain groups, especially Hispanics.”
Duffy said Republicans also have to get out of their comfort zones. “What people don’t understand is that politicians don’t show up where they don’t feel welcome. And the only way you start to feel welcome is by showing up,” he said, complimenting Hurd’s efforts in Eagle Pass, west of San Antonio.
“That’s how you actually win the hearts and minds of people and change what some might perceive of as the brand,” he added.
Hurd said that Republicans have to show that they don’t suffer from “groupthink,” and he offered a comprehensive solution of technology and manpower to the border wall issue that goes further than the wall-only pack in the party.
“We’re not about groupthink. Everybody’s always asking why am I Republican? Because I have my own opinions and ideas. When you look at our friends on the other side of the aisle, there is a lot of groupthink going on, and that’s what’s even scarier,” Hurd said.
