EASTON - Moving to expand its appeal beyond its traditional base, the Maryland Republican Party selected African-American lawyer Michael S. Steele of Prince George's County yesterday to be state party chairman.
Steele, 42, who takes over after the resignation of Baltimore lawyer Richard D. Bennett, said he hopes his selection sends a signal to black voters to reconsider their nearly monolithic allegiance to the Democratic Party.
"Yes, it will help to see one of their own in this position," Steele said of black voters. "But we still have a lot of hard work to do."
Steele takes over a party that has not won a statewide election in Maryland since 1988, lost seats in the most recent local election and has barely half the number of registered voters as the Democratic Party.
But Steele said he looks forward to the task.
"It's daunting and it's exciting," Steele said. "I think Republicans will find they have a leader who's not afraid to go into trench warfare with the Democrats."
The selection of Steele by the party's 260-member central committee came a month after another poor statewide performance by a Republican candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who was crushed in Maryland by Vice President Al Gore by a margin of 57 percent to 40 percent in the presidential election.
Black voters - who cast roughly 20 percent of the ballots - were crucial to Gore's winning margin, with exit polls showing Gore winning nine of 10 votes from African-Americans.
Some political analysts have all but written off the Republicans' chances of winning statewide if they continue to fare so poorly with black voters.
Jackie Jones, a black Republican activist from Wicomico County, supported Steele but said his elevation to the top party post will not solve the problem.
"It doesn't automatically translate into votes," Jones said. "We still have to do a lot of work to unbind the minds."
Sen. Martin G. Madden, the Republican leader in the state Senate, agreed and said Bush would play a crucial role in expanding the Republican Party's appeal to black voters. "Our perception has to change on the national level," Madden said. "I think an ideal place for George Bush to do that is in Maryland. Michael can be a part of that."
Steele is the second African-American to head the state Republican Party. Aris T. Allen of Annapolis served in the post in the early 1980s.
