New GOP could shake up politics

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Eric Liu is the founder of Citizen University and the author of several books, including "A Chinaman's Chance" and "The Gardens of Democracy." He was a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. Follow him on Twitter: @ericpliu. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- Voter turnout was terrible last Tuesday. As President Barack Obama lamented in his post-election press conference Wednesday, two-thirds of voters chose not to vote, making it perhaps the lowest midterm turnout since the 1940s. Conventional wisdom says low turnout favors Republicans, and it did last week. But the days when one party sees low turnout as being in its own interest might be drawing to a close -- and it may be Republicans who will drive the change.

Eric Liu

First, some context. Midterm electorates are typically smaller, whiter and older than presidential electorates. In recent years, the GOP has worked hard to ensure that its shrinking, white, aging base turns out in disproportionately large numbers. And even though there are plenty of Republican leaders who'd like to see their party become younger and more diverse, the practical pressures of here-and-now politics have led them to go into campaigns with the voters they have, not the ones they wished they had.

But on Tuesday, the wishes of those Republicans hoping to expand the base started coming true -- at least on the margins, and enough to suggest a new way forward. While Republicans extended their dominance among older white voters, they also made modest inroads with Latino and Asian-American voters, partly by downplaying the nativist messages of past cycles and partly by exploiting frustration with the Obama administration.

Several new-generation black, Hispanic and Asian Republican candidates were also elected across the country. Meanwhile, GOP leaders such as Sen. Rand Paul have been engaging millennial voters on campuses and elsewhere with an unapologetic libertarianism that resonates with some young people.

As a result, it's possible for a smart Republican to see 2014 not only as a win, but as a hint of how the party could prevail in 2016 as well. To put it simply, the GOP might soon see it as in its own interest to boost turnout among young voters and voters of color, instead of writing them off or, as still happens too often, blocking them from voting at all.

This would be a major departure, to be sure. We're still a long way from a heartfelt and well-executed effort to expand the GOP demographic base. And even if party leaders want it, there are still too many voters who vote Republican precisely because they fear or blame the very people the leaders want to bring into the tent.

Still, it's at least becoming possible now. There is an opening among Latino, Asian and young voters. And it would be fantastic for the country if Republicans pushed to exploit that opening.

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New GOP could shake up politics