By Brandon Moseley
Thursday, the Alabama Republican Party will announce and introduce the leadership of its new Minority Outreach Team at a press conference at their headquarters on Lorna Road in Hoover today.
Republican leaders from across the state will be present. Among those speaking will be State Representative Kenneth Paschal (R Shelby County), who made history this summer when he became the first Republican African-American elected to the Alabama Legislature since Reconstruction in the late nineteenth century.
"Kenneth Paschal’s historic victory is just the beginning for Republican African-Americans in the State of Alabama,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl. “I am here to tell you that the Alabama Republican Party is proud to support and encourage minorities, and I am looking forward to introducing the public to such an outstanding group of public servants and activists.
“The Democrat Party wants you to believe that all minorities share their liberal views, but we are going to challenge that false stereotype. There are thousands of conservative people in minority groups across this state, and they deserve to be recognized. This Thursday, they will be.”
Immediately following the press conference, the committee will hold its first meeting.
Republicans in Alabama have lost only one statewide race since 2008, Doug Jones upset of former Chief Justice Roy Moore in the 2017 special election for U.S. Senate. The ALGOP ended 135 years of Democratic control of the Alabama legislature with the election of 2010. They grew their supermajorities in both the House and the Senate in 2014 and 2018. The only thing holding the GOP back now is the state’s majority minority districts, which all remain solidly in Democratic hands. Neil Rafferty (Birmingham) is the last White Democrat in the Alabama House of Representatives and Billy Beasley (Clayton) is the last White Democrat in the Alabama Senate. Both of them rely heavily on Black voters who still vote overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats.
Alabama Republicans hope to win over more Black voters as well as appeal to growing populations of Hispanic and Asian voters in Alabama moving forward.
