From KUT:
Despite the results of this year’s election, there are still Republicans who say the party needs to appeal to a more diverse group of voters if they want to win the White House in the future. Specifically, they say the party needs to attract Hispanic voters.
And the case study some Republicans are pointing to when they make this argument is solidly-red Texas.
It was not too long ago that this argument was considerably easier to make.
Right after President Obama was reelected in 2012, Republicans began taking stock. The lesson then-RNC Chair Reince Priebus learned was that the GOP needed to be more inclusive. Priebus appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” during that time. The show’s host, Joe Scarborough, asked him about members of the party who had issues with this strategy.
“How do we take control as a party and make sure those voices are the voices of the minority, and that we embrace a bigger tent?” Scarborough asked.
“Well, you’ve gotta make Reagan’s 80-20 rule cool again,” Priebus responded. “And that’s not just that my 80-percent friend is not my 20-percent enemy. And that we are not going to grow our party by division and subtraction.”
Cut to 2016. The right flank of the GOP, and mostly white voters, propelled President-Elect Donald Trump to the White House and Priebus is set to become Trump’s chief of staff.