Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday the Democratic Party's victories nationwide Tuesday proved Republicans will "do better with a more inclusive message."
"That is something that we can learn from last night," Flake, the Arizona GOP senator who is not seeking a second term next year, told Jake Tapper on CNN. "We've seen the limits of how we can drill down on the base. We've got to play addition rather than subtraction."
"You can rile up the base and win an election here or there, but in the end you've got to appeal to a broader electorate, to suburbanites and others," Flake said. "I don't think we are right now."
Residents in the Northern Virginia suburbs outside Washington and in the Hampton Roads area in the southern part of the state propelled Democrat Ralph Northam to victory over Republican Ed Gillespie, according to news reports.
Democrats also won local races in suburbs outside New York City and Philadelphia.
Flake told Tapper that while the core GOP electorate backs President Trump, that might not translate to victories in general elections.
"The Republican primary electorate is very much behind the president," he said. "I'm just suggesting that that may not be enough to win general elections around.
"It may determine the type of candidate we get out of a primary, but it doesn't mean that you can win a general election.
"A lot of us recognize that we're going to have to appeal to a broader electorate," he added. "Looking at demographics, moving ahead, you've got to move on elections based on the population.
"I just don't know how you can have a hardcore message on so many areas like on immigration and appeal to a broader electorate," Flake added. "I just don't know how you do that."
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