DETROIT, MI -- After U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) presented to the Detroit Economic Club on Friday a plan to reduce taxes in economically distressed areas, a student asked him what attracted his interest to the Motor City,

The junior senator from Kentucky said he sees Detroit's struggle as the culmination of wider economic problems in the U.S. -- but he also gave a more blunt, straightforward answer on his political motivation.

"I'm a politician. I'm a Republican. I want votes," he said. "I think our party needs more votes, and they aren't getting any out of Detroit."

Paul's visit came just as the Michigan Republican Party opened a new office on Livernois Avenue in Detroit as part of a new effort to reach out to African Americans, even in longtime Democratic strongholds.

"I don't think it's really, necessarily, that the issue is we have to change our opinions and attitudes on issues," Paul said about GOP efforts to attract more minorities.

"But I think it is true that if you don't have money, or you don't have a business, you aren't that concerned about regulation and taxes. So if I talk to people who are trying to get ahead in life and aren't yet successful -- that could be young people, it could be certain ethnic groups on occasion -- they just aren't that excited about regulation and taxes. They're excited, I think, about personal liberty, about the idea that everybody should be treated fairly under the law, the criminal justice system shouldn't unfairly incarcerate certain people of certain races and that your individual liberty should be protected. "

Paul plans to introduce legislation next week that would designate areas with unemployment rates over 1.5 times the average as "Economic Freedom Zones," where personal and business income taxes would be reduced to 5 percent, capital gains taxes would be eliminated and other incentives would be offered to potential residents and entrepreneurs.

He said the measure would "leave over $1.3 billion in Detroit" over 10 years.

Paul also spoke Friday about what he called a "21st-century civil rights agenda" involving education and prison reform in another attempt at reaching inner city minorities.

"We need to be a more diverse party," Paul said. "If you want to win, it's just practically the only way you ever win again...

"We need people in our party that don't all have ties on. We need people with tattoos. We need people without tattoos. We need people with pony tails, earrings. We need people from all different walks of life. All different colors. All different creeds. And the Democratic Party is more diverse than us. That's why they're winning more elections."

Wayne Bradley, the Republican Party's new director of African-American engagement in Michigan, is a graduate of Detroit's Mumford High School.

He opened the new GOP Detroit office today a block away from where he grew up.

"I grew up seeing this area full of political activity, but it was only one side of the political activity," Bradley said.

(Related: Republican Party opens Detroit office with eye on long-term African American outreach)

Bradley said it was Jack Kemp the late Republican congressman and former secretary of Housing and Urban Development who lured him to conservative ideas with his efforts to create "enterprise zones."

Paul called his proposal "Jack Kemp's enterprise zones on steroids."

Follow MLive Detroit reporter Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.