Rand Paul Opens Outreach Center in West Louisivlle

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Rand Paul, Louisville GOP Open West End Headquarters to Reach Black Voters

By PHILLIP M. BAILEY
8:25 AM SUN JUNE 8, 2014

Joined by dozens of residents and elected officials, the Jefferson County Republican Party opened new headquarters in west Louisville on Saturday in an effort to better reach black voters.

Located in the Chickasaw neighborhood’s Trinity Family Life Center, the new GOP office is part of a larger effort by recently elected GOP Chairman Nathan Haney to get the party outside its traditional areas of strength.

"We're here because we want to learn and engage folks that we have not," Haney told the audience. "We've turned our backs on them in the past. And so we want to be in this community. These are our neighbors and our friends, and this is our city."

Among those who attended the event were Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, Congressman Andy Barr and Senator Rand Paul, who has made headlines for his national efforts to court minorities.

"If anybody accuses me of coming to the West End to look for votes, they're right," he said. "I'm here to ask you for your vote."

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Recent polling numbers show Paul's effort to reach out to black voters is working, at least among Kentucky's black population.

According to a Bluegrass Poll released in May, Paul pulls 29 percent of the African-American vote in a mock presidential contest against Hillary Clinton in the state. That's a considerable jump for a GOP contender when considering Democrats receive upwards of 90 percent of that voting bloc.

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