COLUMBIA (AP) _ South Carolina Republicans have overwhelmingly elected their first black member to the Republican National Committee, which currently has no blacks among its 168 members.
Glenn McCall had 402 votes to 172.5 for Drew McKissick, based on a tally kept as the counties were polled and called out their results. McKissick called for the convention to name McCall the new committeeman by acclamation.
McCall is the second black elected by a state party to the RNC this year. Michigan Republicans earlier elected Keith Butler. The RNC says it will affirm Butler's and McCall's elections in a September meeting.
Before Saturday's vote, McCall called for a more aggressive GOP that's willing to appeal to diverse groups of voters.
"It's time for the Republican Party to get out of the foxhole. We need to go on the offense," McCall said. "We need to come out and build bridges to new people. As a party, demographically, we're hurting if we don't."
McCall, who chairs York County's GOP, said he never turns down an invitation to go to an NAACP meeting. "We go ... to stand up for our conservative values. So I want to do that at the national level."
McCall noted that his election was a ground breaking development.
"This is a new day in politics in South Carolina," McCall said. He added that it sends a message: "It doesn't matter what your background is if you stand for our values — they're going to support you."
"I think it creates tremendous opportunities and speaks volumes of the work our party has done," South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson said. "I think it's monumental for South Carolina and he'll be an important member of the Republican National Committee."
It's already a history-making year in Republican politics in the Palmetto State. For the first time since Reconstruction ended in 1877, five black Republicans are on primary ballots for the state House and Senate with two assured spots on the November ballot because they don't have primary opposition.
"I think we haven't been aggressively reaching all of the ethnicities. ... It has to be all minority groups, be it Latino, be it Arab, Asian," McCall said.
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