Sen. Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, said his home state of Texas could easily switch from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic voting block if the GOP doesn’t open its arms and take in more working class and more minorities.

“Texas will be a Democratic state within 10 years if you don’t change,” he said at a Houston dinner with Sen. John Cornyn, CNN reported. “That doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a more welcoming party. We have to welcome people of all races. We need to welcome people of all classes — business class, working class.”

He said the diversity outreach needs to go beyond ethnicities and target those with different looks that may not be norm for what people perceive as a Republican voter.

“We need to have people with ties and without ties, with tattoos and without tattoos, with earrings without earrings,” he said, CNN reported. “We need a more diverse party. We need a party that looks like America.”

Mr. Paul — whose father, Ron Paul, was a long-time congressman and obstetrician — was raised in the Houston area. The state has a long history of voting Republican, but Battleground Texas, an organization tied to the Democratic Party, has a goal of making the state blue.

“I think having people who are trying to make the party bigger is good,” Mr. Paul said in a separate interview with CNN. “The party has to be bigger across the country, not only appealing to people of various ethnic background but various economic backgrounds.”

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