CLEVELAND – The GOP’s post-2012 autopsy reached a bold conclusion: If the party wanted to survive, it needed to make inroads among the Hispanic, black and female voters who were convinced the party had deserted them.
Now the party has nominated a candidate who is polling at historic lows among all those groups. But the speakers who will take the stage at a convention that was supposed to showcase the party's crossover appeal are overwhelmingly white.
Of the 71 prime-time speakers who are expected to take the podium over the course of the four-day convention here, more than 80 percent are white, according to a POLITICO analysis. Perhaps most striking, only seven of the speakers are black and just three are Latino. Women comprise one-third of the speaking slots.
“Looks like the 2012 autopsy report might need a little CPR,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Miami Republican who isn't attending the convention.
While the GOP has a number of leaders who reflect the country’s diversity, “it is regrettable so few of them will be in Cleveland for the national convention and that fewer will be stepping on the dais before the American people to make their voices heard. It is a reflection of where we are as a party at this moment, and anyone saying otherwise is simply being less than forthcoming,” added Danny Diaz, a prominent party strategist who managed Jeb Bush's primary campaign.
To many, the problem is simple: Trump.
Far from appealing to Hispanics, the presumptive nominee has fashioned himself not just as an immigration hardliner — he’s turned the idea of building a border wall into the centerpiece of his campaign — but as someone who’s accused Mexico of sending “rapists” to the United States. Trump’s poll numbers among blacks are abysmally low, bottoming out near zero in some states. Particularly galling to GOP leaders has been Trump’s apparent reluctance at one point to disavow support from white supremacist David Duke.
And while Trump’s decision to tap Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Capitol Hill veteran, as his running mate has soothed the concerns of many Republicans, some worry that he missed an opportunity to select a woman. The New York businessman, who’s clashed with everyone from Megyn Kelly to Elizabeth Warren, has lagged badly among female voters.
Trump’s approach has collided sharply with the findings of the autopsy, which was commissioned by the Republican National Committee. The report’s authors stressed that the party needs to change how it “engages with Hispanic communities,” and that “if Hispanic Americans hear that the GOP doesn’t want them in the United States, they won’t pay attention to our next sentence.”
The report went on to recommend that the party embrace immigration reform, mentioning the term a half-dozen times.
An RNC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Now, as Republicans prepare to nominate Trump this week, many of the party’s bold-faced minority figures — such as Sen. Tim Scott and Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who’s butted heads with Trump — decided not to take the stage.
Most of those who are speaking are political unknowns. The slim list of minority prime-time speakers includes Darryl Glenn, a Colorado Senate candidate, and Ralph Alvorado, a Kentucky state senator who also works as a physician. “He’s got a great story and the convention planners were smart to take a guy like Ralph and elevate him to such a good slot,” said Scott Jennings, an Alvorado adviser.
Of the 24 women taking the stage, three are Trump family members — his wife, Melania, and daughters Ivanka and Tiffany.
Taken together, the numbers are bleak — and represent a drop-off from the pre-autopsy 2012 convention, when minorities held more than a quarter of the speaking slots.
Ana Navarro, a Florida-based Republican donor and strategist, noted that GOP conventions typically brought together most of the party’s Latino stars. Many of South Florida’s Republican elected officials, including Marco Rubio, aren’t traveling to Cleveland, she pointed out.
“We have gone back decades in terms of diversity in this convention. You are more likely to see an actual dinosaur speaking at the convention, than an actual Hispanic,” Navarro said. “When I take a mental inventory of the top 100 Hispanic Republicans I know of, maybe five or six are here, and most of them because they have to be here for work purposes, not because they want to be. It's rather sad.”
“It's not only a step back but an indicator of the future if Trump is elected,” said Mike Fernandez a Florida health care executive and GOP mega-donor.
To Trump’s team, the speaking schedule is a more complex calculation — not merely about lining up a diverse group of up-and-coming speakers, but reinforcing his image as a political outsider.
“I love that Trump line that he was going to have sport stars and things talking. And he said, ‘I’m tired of these loser politicians. I want winners for a change.’ It’s a different thing, he’s not a normal politician,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Trump supporter and adviser. “He doesn’t come out of the political party system.”
Others, though, worry this week’s schedule is indicative of a deeper problem: That the party has taken a step back.
“The diversity of a party is a chief measure of its strength and depth,” said Diaz. “It also presents a picture of what the future will look like whether on a statewide or national level.”
Shane Goldmacher contributed to this report.