GOP lawmaker: If the party doesn’t adapt to new demographics ‘there won’t be a Republican Party’

Outgoing Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), the only black Republican in the House, warned in a new interview that the GOP needs to adapt and start looking like the rest of America or “there won’t be a Republican Party in this country.”

In an interview with Axios on HBO that aired Sunday, Hurd said that “we know where the trends are going” regarding demographics in America and that Republicans “know what we need to do.”

{mosads}”Minorities, people under the age of 29 and women with a college degree in the suburbs are not choosing the Republican Party,” Hurd told Axios.

Hurd announced his retirement from the House earlier this year to help increase diversity in the party.

The three-term congressman noted that he is an example of how to be a successful minority candidate in the Republican Party by “showing how to win one of the, if not the, most competitive seat, in the United States of America.” 

“If the Republican Party doesn’t start looking like the rest of the country, there won’t be a Republican Party in this country.” — @HurdOnTheHill, the only African American Republican in the House, to @alexi. pic.twitter.com/HGmYM7BHD5

— Axios (@axios) November 3, 2019

Hurd pointed out that the district in Texas he represents, which stretches for hundreds of miles along the U.S.’s southern border, is predominantly Latino.

He said his exit from Congress allows him to help the party in a different way.

“There’s more than one way to help,” Hurd said.

As for the state in Congress that Hurd is leaving, he said it is up for grabs in the 2020 election, as Texas is trending purple.

“Texas is a purple state. Just because we don’t have a statewide elected Democrat doesn’t mean Texas is not already purple,” Hurd said. “We should be operating as if it’s purple.”

Hurd is one of several Texas House Republicans who recently announced they will not seek reelection next year.