Priebus: Paul and I on same page
By JONATHAN TOPAZ |
11/2/14 10:18 AM EST
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday downplayed Sen. Rand Paul's comments that the Republican Party's brand "sucks," saying that he agrees the GOP needs to do better with minority and women voters but the party is on the right track.
Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Priebus was asked about the comments from Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky who said that "the Republican Party brand sucks" and has been trying to repair the party's image with black voters in particular. The chairman said that he and Paul agreed that the GOP needs to expand its voter base.
"Rand Paul is saying what I've been saying, which is we have spent way too long as a national party showing up at the end, and we've got to do better," Priebus told host George Stephanopoulos. The chairman has put a greater emphasis on reaching out to minority communities following the 2012 presidential election, in which Democrats won overwhelmingly with Hispanic and black voters.
Priebus, who said he was "very close to Rand," argued that the GOP is polling well with women in key Senate races, showing that the party has main inroads with a group that has also largely backed Democrats in recent years. In particular, he noted polls showing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky and Tom Cotton in Arkansas doing well with female voters.
In the joint interview Sunday with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Priebus reiterated he would be "very disappointed" if Republicans don't win Senate control in the midterms.
Paul, who is openly considering a 2016 presidential bid, has made a major push in the African-American community, introducing sentencing reform legislation and meeting with civil rights leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
