News/Campaigns

Steele: No more conventions with 36 people of color in the room

The GOP needs to send more minority delegates to its 2012 national convention, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele suggested Monday night.

”Please send some folks to the convention that look like Florida,” Steele told Florida Republicans, according to the Miami Herald. “Could you help a brother out? No more national conventions with [only] 36 people of color in the room.”

Steele, the first African-American head of the Republican Party, has pledged to reach out more aggressively to black and Hispanic communities.

36 of the 2,380 delegates at last summer’s Republican National Convention were black, the Washington Post reported at the time.

“We want to turn around those voter registration numbers, we want to turn around the turnout and we want to keep Florida competitive for the Republican Party and not cede any ground, any area, or any vote to the Democrats,” Steele said.

(h/t GOP12)