Watts says Republicans can't win the White House without minority voters.
The GOP has been doing some soul searching since its crushing presidential election loss about the need to attract more minorities to the party. That may be why, according to former Rep. J.C. Watts, who is African-American, some Republicans are encouraging him to challenge current Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in January.
In an interview with Politico, Watts, citing the election, said that his party cannot win presidential races if they don't broaden their appeal to minority voters. He harshly criticized the GOP's tendency to ignore Blacks and Latinos until their votes are needed during a presidential election. That's when they form various coalitions of African-Americans and attempt other outreach efforts that so far have proved futile.
"That is a joke, that is so tired,” said Watts, who didn't say whether he plans to enter the RNC race. “It’s window dressing to say, ‘African Americans for Romney’ or ‘African-American Coalition’ or ‘African-American Advisory Council.’ That’s insulting to the people that they ask to do it when you don’t put a permanent infrastructure in place to give it credibility.”
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(Photo: Tony Williams/Getty Images)
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