On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) reacted to Democratic candidate Scott Colom winning Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race by saying that the win “comes sort of on the heels of the Voting Rights Act repeal, essentially, that the Supreme Court put in place a few months ago. Everybody thought that that would mean the black voters would stay home or be discouraged. But African Americans came out across the country, and especially in the South, and we’ve had some strong victories that have come.”
Ivey began by saying, “Well, historic is right, and what a huge step forward for the state of Mississippi and the nation as a whole, one of the cradles of the Confederacy, electing an African American to the Senate, statewide, at this date, I think, is very powerful.”
He continued, “And I think it’s also great that it comes sort of on the heels of the Voting Rights Act repeal, essentially, that the Supreme Court put in place a few months ago. Everybody thought that that would mean the black voters would stay home or be discouraged. But African Americans came out across the country, and especially in the South, and we’ve had some strong victories that have come. We’ve got six African American members of Congress now out of North Carolina, when, just a few weeks ago, I think it was — the ratio was 10:4 Republican to Democrat. Now it’s going to be like 11:3 going the other way. They woke a sleeping giant. And I think that’s going to be to the regret of the Republican Party across the country.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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