NAACP President: If Biden and Senate Democrats Can’t Pass Voting Rights Bill It Will ‘Completely Undermine The Legacy of This President’

By Sarah RumpfOct 20th, 2021, 11:45 am
 

NAACP President Derrick Johnson told CNN’s Erica Hill that if the voting rights bill doesn’t pass, it would completely undermine President Joe Biden’s legacy.

After some technical difficulties during the previous segment, Hill asked Johnson about the “slimmed-down version” of the voting rights bill, noting that even that wasn’t expected to pass.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had said he could bring ten Republicans along, said Hill, but “it doesn’t seem that that happened.”

“You’ve called the lack of urgency from the White House around voting rights ‘appalling.’ Do you think the administration, do you think Democrats dropped the ball here?” asked Hill.

“I think the outcome will demonstrate whether or not the ball has been dropped,” replied Johnson. “For African-Americans, we must get legislation to protect our right to vote. It’s imperative that the Senate leadership, members of the Senate, and the White House make this happen before the end of the year. Anything less will completely undermine the legacy of this president.”

“What do you see as the path forward?” asked Hill.

“The path forward is not allowing a procedural rule to stop the protection of the right to vote,” said Johnson, referring to the filibuster.

Hill asked Johnson if he thought that message was getting through to the president and Congress. He answered that he thought they had “good intentions,” but he focused on the “outcome.” Johnson had specific concerns about states engaging in redistricting for the first time since 1960 without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act.

Johnson mentioned how Senators wanted to “hold to Senate traditions and protocols of the past,” but “there are no bipartisan realities in the Senate” any longer, pointing out how they had been unable to get ten Senators to support a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“We must protect our democracy, that must be done through legislation,” Johnson concluded. “The Senate must do their job, and the president must put pressure on them to do their job.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.