Politics
J.C. Watts: Republican leaders need more African-American strategists
J.C. Watts. PHOTO/File
Former U.S. House Rep. J.C. Watts said Monday the Republican presidential candidates need to have more African-Americans “at the strategists’ table” to woo black voters and help them avoid controversial statements that might offend African-American voters.
At the “Conservative Black Forum”, an event on Capitol Hill hosted by Rep. Allen West of Florida, Watts, who was in the congressional leadership during the 1990s, complained that no member of the Republican National Committee was attending the event. He said it was an illustration of the lack of contact between the party’s leadership and black voters.
“Somebody that looks like us needs to be at the strategists’ table to say ‘I know what you’re trying to say, but I wouldn’t say it like that,” Watts said.
