Republican Party Seeks To Appeal To Immigrants, Gays, Minorities, Women, Youth

By John Rosman
March 18, 2013

A 100 page report released by the Republican National Committee on Monday unveiled proposals to open the base to individuals who may have felt alienated in the past, including immigrants, minorities, younger voters and gays.

The report, titled the Growth and Opportunity Project, outlines stark recommendations to rebrand and reorganize the Republican Party on a federal level.

The recommendations include ones that would encourage the party to “embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform,” blow the whistle against corporate wrongdoing and campaign to “Hispanic, black, Asian and Gay Americans.”

The report urges the party to change because America's demographic identity is already changing. On the national level, Latinos were crucial in reelecting President Obama; and their influence will only grow.

On the state level, by the end of the summer Latinos are projected to be the ethnic majority in the most populated state in the U.S.

A crucial step towards reaching out to the large ethnic minority in the U.S., is immigration reform.

“We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only,” the report states.

One of the first changes to be seen will be a $10 million effort to dispatch hundreds of workers into minority neighborhoods, selling the new Republican message.

As the AP reports, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus believes change will begin at a local level.

"We need to go to communities where Republicans do not normally go to listen and make our case," the report says. "We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian and gay Americans and demonstrate that we care about them, too."

The RNC's planned outreach is very similar to a strategy that worked successfully for President Obama in the past two election cycles.