“The midterm election not only busted the myth that the GOP is a regional party – seeing Republican gains in the Northeast, Midwest and West – it also puts to rest the notion that Republicans are a lily white party whose base won’t embrace a diverse slate of candidates. In eight prominent contests, Republicans nominated and elected excellent candidates and fine conservatives who also happen to be people of color.”

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“‘I did not want to run as a black candidate; I did not want to run as a military candidate,’ Mr. West said in a telephone interview. ‘I wanted to run as an American candidate and win the respect of the people.’…

“There were no blacks in Congress from 1900 to 1929, but since then, their numbers have increased bit by bit, especially after the civil rights movement, this time with Democrats leading the way, a reflection of the changed dynamics of each party and the shifts of power in state legislatures. Of all the blacks ever to serve in Congress, 98 have been Democrats and 27 have been Republicans; there are 42 African-American members in the current lame-duck Congress.

“The yield of black Republican winners on Tuesday was small considering that 32 African-Americans ran in Republican primaries this year. ‘If two is the highest number of black Republicans to win since Reconstruction, it’s hard to call that a breakthrough,’ said Tavis Smiley, a prominent talk show host who has repeatedly criticized Republicans as not doing enough to court black voters.”

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“While Republicans made strides Tuesday in bolstering the number of minorities elected to public office, some conservatives cautioned the party against boasting of their gains because there’s still a long way to go to match the Democrats’ long-standing dominance with minority lawmakers.

“‘You have to be careful in touting that because it looks like you think all the work is over because you’ve got two [black] Republicans in the [House Republican] Conference … [but] there is a lot of things that go into putting ‘meat on the bones’ if you will,’ said former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, the first black Republican House member from south of the Mason-Dixon Line since Reconstruction…

“Mr. Watts, who left the House in early 2003, was critical of Republican outreach to ethnic minorities, saying that Mr. Scott and Mr. West won Tuesday in spite of the party, not because of it.

“‘In 20 years I’ve been associated with the party, [minority outreach] has been given lip service,’ he said. ‘There’s nobody in the [GOP] establishment that can point to these two candidates and say that they [helped them win] – or any of these [minority] candidates.'”

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“West told POLITICO he’d ‘absolutely’ be interested in joining the CBC. ‘That has been a monolithic voice in the body politic for far too long. There is a growing conservative black voice in this country,’ West said, that needs to be represented in Washington…

“‘I haven’t really decided. I’m probably leaning against it at this point,’ said Scott, whose 89-year-old grandfather was with him Tuesday night when he won a seat in South Carolina’s 1st District. ‘My experience has been the whole notion of one nation — so I really shy away [from] things that create some kind of boundaries. … It highlights the divisions I’ve been pushing forward to erase.'”

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