Republicans will be facing a tough midterm election cycle. While they could win the Senate, an admittedly major prize, they are also facing a real identity crisis: The party is growing way too old, and they are running out of voters.

Currently the Republican Party is seen as the party of old white men. This has been a joke for years and is going to be troubling for the future of the party. Republicans need to drop that idea and go hard after the young voters. In order to do that, the party needs to focus on jobs and other issues that matter to our generation.

The Republican Party has been afraid to leave its shell for the last 20 to 30 years. Unfortunately, it has lost some of its message with young people by doing so.

Party members need to go into universities and pitch their plans for the future and how they want to help us get jobs and keep our future together. The party needs to pick candidates who are not old white men, but candidates who are younger and more exciting. It needs to make sure members are using ideas that really reach our generation by using people in our generation and not our parent’s generation. It needs to push jobs for us, because we do not want to move home.

The party also needs to expand its base to more than just the suburbs. The Republican Party currently seems to just be in the more wealthy suburbs and not really existent in the cities. Republicans need to go into these areas they have typically lost, including those where they were clobbered in the 2008 election, and explain how they want to create jobs for these voters. Instead of counting these votes lost, they should spend time and effort marketing to them.

Republicans also need to change their rhetoric on immigration. The party, due to several recent proposals and rhetorical gaffes, seems like it is racist and not accepting of immigrants. While I am not suggesting a complete turnaround on policy, I am saying that it needs to find a way to say its piece on immigration without sounding racist.

The party needs to focus, in this election and future elections, to go through and grow the base to include more people. If the party wants to survive, it needs to adapt. The current base for the Republican Party has aged a lot over the last few years, so the party needs to change for new voters. If it is unable or unwilling to change, then it will be left behind like the Whigs were so many years ago.

Regan Williams is a senior majoring in political science and communication studies. His column runs biweekly.