Rep.: GOP must welcome centrists ‘when you got the numbers that we do’

Republicans have no choice but to welcome more kinds of voters to the party given its poll numbers, a rising star in the House GOP said Tuesday.

“When you got the numbers that we do in the House and the Senate, you got to be very welcoming to people that want to join your party,” 33-year-old Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said on CNN.

“And the fact is, I welcome people of all stripes to the Republican Party,” McHenry added, cautioning that centrist Republicans should also welcome a conservative like himself.

“I mean, if you want to be a majority party, you have to win moderates,” he said. “We can’t just simply have infighting and expect to win elections. We’ve got to get together on a broad set of issues that fit with the realities of today’s worlds and the struggles that people have today.”

McHenry argued that winning figures like Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush all were successful at crafting coalitions in their parties to win elections.