USA TODAY International Edition
In Trump era, leader seeks diversity
Lawmaker calls for GOP to reach out to minorities
WASHINGTON – At an elite gathering of Republicans this month in the resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Rep. Mark Walker gave a speech urging the party to do more to reach out to African-Americans, Hispanics and other people of color.
At the forum attended by influential conservatives such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and former presidential adviser Karl Rove, Walker elaborated on a message he has delivered in other private conversations with Republicans. Walker's message resonated enough with the audience that after the event, Rove reached out to talk further.
But the next morning, Walker's party was dealing with fallout from a different message on race, when President Donald Trump called his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, a black woman, a “dog.”
"That would not be my terminology,” Walker said during a telephone interview late last week with USA TODAY.
The challenge
The uproar over Trump’s comment highlighted a central challenge for Walker, who leads the Republican Study Committee, the largest group of conservatives in the House. He said he is intent on building bridges between the party and African-Americans. But many of Trump's remarks could help to energize black voters to go to the polls to vote against the GOP in this year's midterm elections.
Walker, an affable former pastor, represents a North Carolina district that is one-fifth African-American. He is championing criminal justice reform and funding for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), issues that are high priorities for many Afrigiven can-American voters.
Walker spokesman Jack Minor said the lawmaker is working on legislation that would allow student athletes – many of whom are black – to be compensated for their publicity rights. Walker also has hosted two Washington summits with HBCU leaders, meetings that helped pave the way for year-round Pell grants for HBCU students. He teamed up with North Carolina Democratic Rep. Alma Adams to establish an internship program for students from HBCUs.
Walker also was the first Republican in years to give a keynote address at the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation dinner in June. All of the group's members are Democrats.
But Walker’s quest is an uphill battle the antipathy toward Trump among black voters and the fact that they overwhelming identify as Democrats.
According to Pew Research data, African-American voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, with 84% identifying or leaning left. Only 8% of black voters identify with the Republican Party.
Walker is not the first senior Republican to call for reaching out to minority communities, which are a growing share of the population. After Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 election, the national party commissioned the “Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Project,” also known as the “autopsy report." Its findings showed the GOP needed to diversify to survive.
Walker took the findings to heart during his first run for Congress in 2014, when he sought the support of a local Democratic leader, the Rev. Odell Cleveland. It took three meetings for Walker to win over the pastor.
“I’m a lifelong Democrat and proud of it, but I just believe we have to find common ground,” Cleveland said. He added he still “vehemently” disagrees with some of Walker’s votes, like one to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but he likes him.
Trump won big among white working-class voters in the 2016 presidential election. But even before his campaign began, he had angered many people of color with his effort to prove President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Then during his campaign he made racially charged comments, such as suggesting that Mexican immigrants were rapists.
Since taking office, the president has further fanned racial flames by questioning why the U.S. would let in people from “shithole countries,”referring to Haiti and African countries, and said "many sides" were to blame after a white supremacist rally turned deadly last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Taking on Trump
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake – a frequent Trump critic who is retiring – was the only Republican to immediately speak out about Trump's “dog” remark about Manigault Newman.
Walker weighed in later in the week but said he didn’t think it was the responsibility of Republican lawmakers to criticize every comment the president makes.
“I think on a lot of racial things, a lot of us have pushed back, but is it a member of Congress’ responsibility to recorrect and address every statement the president makes?” Walker said. ”I don’t know if that’s part of our responsibility, especially when there are enough things that have come out of the White House.”
Some African-Americans say that unless Republican lawmakers strongly disavow Trump’s comments about minorities, their efforts to reach out will go nowhere.
“We have a commander in chief that is clearly racist,” said Avis Jones-DeWeever, a Democratic consultant who works on minority outreach. “We’re not seeing Republicans in Congress – through very critical moments like these – stand up and say anything."
“If Mark Walker is trying to be a public servant for all of the residents of North Carolina, God bless him.” Anita Estell Head of the nonprofit CELIE