Republican leaders announced Thursday that the delegations to the upcoming Republican National Convention will be the most ethnically diverse in party history.
Seventeen percent of the delegates and alternates at the New York convention will be minorities, up from the 9 percent at the party’s 2000 national convention in Philadelphia.
The percentage increases–including 65 percent for black delegates–are relatively large because the raw numbers are relatively small as Republicans continue their effort to attract minority support that has been part of the Democrats’ dependable base for many years.
Democrats also set diversity records at their convention this year, when almost 40 percent of the delegates and alternates were minorities.
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Growing numbers
Overall, there will be 4,853 delegates and alternates at the New York convention that begins Aug. 30. Among the convention’s delegates:
297 Hispanics
290 African-Americans
104 Asian and Pacific islanders