Democratic strategist Stacey Abrams said Monday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Democrats “call to arms” was that “authoritarians” in the Republican-led state legislators were passing election laws that are a danger to democracy.
Abrams said, “There has been an attempt by opponents of S-1 to be, you know, either intentionally reductive or intentionally obtuse. This is about a series of laws being passed across the country, starting in Georgia to reduce access to the right to vote for inconvenient voters, voters of color, young people, disabled voters, elderly voters, poor voters, but largely targeting communities of color that outperformed in the 2020 and 2021 run-offs here in Georgia.”
She continued, “There is two layers to this challenge. The first layer, a successful layer, was getting 50 Democratic senators on the record supporting a version of the For the People Act that can affect these laws and can save tour democracy. The second step then is what do we do mechanically to make it happen. I believe the first step is either a carve-out to the filibuster or a reduction in the threshold or returning it to its original form, which is the talking filibuster. So I do call on every single senator, both those who have declared out loud they want to support the filibuster and those who are being quiet about it, that this is a time for action. ”
Abrams added, “Now is the urgent time for action. What happened in Texas, what is happening right now, what will happen in Ohio, what will happen in North Carolina, what will happen in Pennsylvania is not endemic to the South. It is endemic to authoritarians who do not want to see inconvenient voters cast their ballots and speak their minds. That has to be the call to arms. This is not simply about one moment. This is about the foundations of our democracy, and they are in peril. It is time now for every single member of the U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans and independents, to declare their allegiance to our democracy as opposed to their parties.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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