Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gave a speech at Howard University today where he sought to rebrand the Republican Party to the largely black student body in a curious way—by talking about the GOP’s past. This approach may appropriately strike some as strange, given the GOP’s struggles in recent years with minority and young voters. What Paul means by past, however, is a bit more distant than voter ID laws, opposition to student loan reform, or rhetoric on welfare programs. Paul chose to bypass these issues, and instead, he spoke of the obviously strong civil rights legacy of the Republican Party of the 1860s and 1960s.
The implication of this emphasis seems to be the Republican Party somehow deserves consideration from young minority voters because it served their interests in the past. The problem with this position, however, is that it not only ignores the GOP’s more recent troubles, but also fails to provide a forward-looking agenda. Two students interviewed by Politico perfectly articulated Paul’s failure:
“He just focused on the past rather than tell us what the party will do for us now,” said Felicyana Lowery, a sophomore marketing major. “I need to know what they have in store for my future.”
“All his examples were from 100 years ago,” said Brendon Patterson, an economic major from Chicago. “I wasn’t moved.”
This speech and the reaction to it demonstrate the challenge Republicans face in outreach to minority and young voters. They cannot simply repackage old ideas or turn to history, but instead need to develop a new set of policies that connects with these voters. While symbolic acts like visiting Howard University are certainly a start, they will not move votes.
Read more about Paul’s speech here.
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