Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) took issue with his party’s attempt to win over Latino voters after the drubbing it took in the 2012 election.
“[It’s] very discouraging,” Huelskamp told conservative radio host Steve Deace on Tuesday, that Republicans are trying “to win votes from the so-called ‘Hispanic voter.’” The conservative congressman argued that trying to persuade Latino voters to become Republicans was “very distracting” because their policy preferences are too disparate. He then conceded that Democrats had done far better winning their votes:
HUELSKAMP: If you’re going to talk about giving a pathway to citizenship before you seal the border. They made a mistake in ’86; I’m not going to repeat that. That’s not going to go through the House. What is interesting and very distracting and very discouraging is, Steve, after the election, the general discussion from Republicans in Washington was, we’ve got to do everything we can to win votes from the so-called “Hispanic voter.” And I say so-called because there’s all kinds of varieties of beliefs within that immigrant community. And the idea that suddenly, instead of voting 70 percent for the Democrats, somehow they’re going to start voting for Republican? No. What Republicans need to do is get off their rear ends and go out, outside of Washington, and talk about what they’re for!
Listen to it (relevant sections begins at 1:10):
It’s been a less-than-ideal stretch for Republicans trying to promote inclusion and tolerance in their party. In the past month, Republicans apologized to “colored people” for using the term “nigger-rigging,” called Latinos “wetbacks,” and introduced legislation to discriminate against non-English speakers.