Biden goes on the offense in battle to pass voting rights legislation

Happy Thursday,

Buckle in for a voting rights summer.

The next few months could determine the course of American democracy. After months of Republican attacks on voting access, Joe Biden used his speech at the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race riots this week to say he would “fight like heck” to pass sweeping voting rights legislation. He also announced that Kamala Harris would lead the White House’s efforts to push the bill.

But Biden’s most significant comment on Tuesday was an acerbic quip that served as a thinly-veiled warning shot to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two moderate Democrats in the US senate who have not endorsed eliminating the filibuster, a procedural requirement that requires 60 votes to advance legislation. With the rule in place, Democrats cannot advance voting rights legislation, even though they control the Senate.

“I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why doesn’t Biden get this done?’ Well, because Biden only has a majority of, effectively, four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends,” Biden said on Tuesday. (White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the comment was not a direct attack on Manchin and Sinema).

The pressure is escalating on Capitol Hill, too. Last week, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the US senate, announced that the Senate would take its first vote on the For the People Act, the sweeping Democratic voting rights package, at the end of the Senate’s June work period. This means Manchin and Sinema will have to go on record to defend their position on the bill.

Despite the growing pressure, both Manchin and Sinema seem dug in. Their refusal to budge is causing a “panic” among some Democrats. Because the once-per-decade redistricting process kicks off later this fall – a process in which Republicans will enjoy an immense advantage – there is worry that the summer is the final window for Democrats to put in place voting protections, especially protections against partisan gerrymandering.

A few other developments may also help galvanize support for Democrats as they make their push for new voting rights protections.

First, the supreme court this month will issue a decision in a case that could significantly weaken one of the last remaining powerful tools in the Voting Rights Act. Such a decision from the court’s conservative majority may increase the sense of urgency among Democrats.

Second, a huge battle over voting rights is stewing in Texas. Last weekend, Texas Democrats walked out of a legislative session, denying Republicans the quorum needed to pass a bill that would have significantly scaled back voter access. After months of watching Republican lawmakers use their majorities in states like Georgia and Florida to force through similar legislation, the Texas stand amounted to the strongest effort to date by Democrats to stop a restrictive voting bill.

Texas governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, fumed over the move and has pledged to call a special session, likely sometime this summer, to pass the legislation. That session will likely be a rallying cry for voting rights. Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic party, told me this week that the members who walked out of the legislature could try something similar again.

“It’s not over yet,” he said. “These guys are not gonna come back and sit through this bullshit.” By not showing up at the capitol, the lawmakers could force Republicans to deploy law enforcement to drag them back. Images of lawmakers being physically compelled to come to the capitol as Republicans ram through new voting restrictions, Hinojosa speculated, would only hurt the GOP.

Also worth watching …

• Some prominent Republicans who backed baseless conspiracy theories are running to be the top election officials in their states, a perch from which they would wield enormous power over elections and could potentially block the winners of elections from being seated.

• For months, experts have been raising alarms about an unprecedented review of ballots in Arizona. Now, there are similar efforts spreading elsewhere.

• Speaking of the Arizona audit, observers from the secretary of state’s office posted a detailed list of problems they’ve observed. They say audit officials had issues with their technology, were confused about who was in charge, and referred to the official observers, required to wear fuschia shirts, as “pinkos”.

• A sweeping new law in Georgia imposes additional hurdles to vote by mail for people who lack ID. A new analysis by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that more than 272,000 registered voters don’t have an ID on file with election officials, more than half of whom are Black.