Rand Paul: Republicans must broaden appeal
Orange County Republicans sampled a taste of one Presidential candidate’s recipe for bringing more Californians to the party table at the 16th annual Flag Day Salute fundraiser Friday night at the Irvine Hotel.
“We have to change our attitude more than our policy,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told the ballroom crowd of more than 800 in his keynote address. He emphasized the importance of better explaining how GOP policies can benefit the public socially and economically to traditionally Democratic voters.
“We were the party of emancipation, the party of civil rights,” Paul said, talking about how to appeal to younger and minority voters. “We can still be that party again.”
The event is the Republican Party of Orange County’s largest party fundraiser of the year, not a campaign fundraiser for the junior senator from Kentucky. Paul committed to the speaking engagement in January, three months before announcing his candidacy for the GOP nomination.
“It’s not just about the speakers and what they’re auditioning for,” explained Assemblyman Matthew Harper, the former Huntington Beach mayor now representing the 74th district in the state legislature. “There’s a lot of folks here maybe considering running for city council, the school board, water district or legislative office and some of them are trying to test the waters, if you will, for next year.”
“It’s fun when Republicans get together,” added Newport Beach City Councilmember Scott Poetter. “You don’t have debate in the Democratic Party, they’re pretty uniform. In the Republican Party you have a lot of varying opinions on a lot of different subjects. So it’s fun to be where the debate is.”
Like his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 1988, Rand Paul is a trained physician and entered politics after a career practicing ophthalmology for two decades.
“Certainly I don’t think he follows in his [father’s] footprints 100%,” Poetter said. “He definitely has to show he’s his own man. He takes the view that government is not very good at doing anything. So don’t give it anything more than it needs to do. I look forward to him adding to the debate.”
Among the 18 major GOP candidates that have declared for the 2016 nomination so far, Paul is running fourth or fifth in recent presidential straw polls. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appears to be the frontrunner 18 months before the election.
“For him and what he’s trying to accomplish, this is a real cherry opportunity to make his case to an incredible county in this country,” said Republican state Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa. “If you can get someone loyal early, then you’re going to have a good base. If you can get a good base here in Orange County, that’s going to bode well.”