Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain says immigration reform will be crucial for the GOP in the 2016 White House race — and that attempts to block it could cost the party the election.
"It doesn't matter who we nominate. We'll [lose]," McCain said Tuesday, according to
Talking Points Memo.
McCain was referring to remarks by Chamber of Commerce chief Tom Donohue, who warned in a May 12 speech, "If the Republicans don't do it, they shouldn't bother to run a candidate in 2016. I mean, think about that. Think about who the voters are," TPM reported.
The warning was tweeted by a
Politico reporter the same day.
"I agree with Mr. Donohue," McCain said Tuesday.
McCain, the GOP nominee for president in 2008, lost two-thirds of Hispanic voters to Barack Obama. TPM noted, however, that even though he opposed immigration reform in 2010, he became a leading author of
immigration legislation that passed the Senate last June.
The measure has yet to come up before the House.
McCain also sounded a warning
earlier this year, saying, "States like mine, over time, the demographics will overtake, not only mine but throughout the whole Southwest and many other parts of the country."
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