On Super Tuesday & In Honor Of The Late John Lewis, Durbin Calls On His Republican Colleagues To Join Senate Democrats And Protect The Right To Vote

Floor Speech

“It is a day for Americans from all walks of life to express their political opinion and vote for the candidate they deem best suited for the highest office in the land. As Americans, our most fundamental right is the right to vote. My dear friend and colleague, the late Congressman John Lewis, called voting, ‘the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.’

This year’s presidential election will be the first general election since a wave of restrictive voting laws were passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election… Voters in 27 states—more than half of our country—will face restrictions on their right to vote that they have never experienced before because of this Supreme Court’s decision. Last year alone, state legislators in 14 states enacted 17 laws that made it harder for people—particularly people of color—to vote. As members of Congress, we must defend our democracy from these coordinated attacks on the fundamental right we have as Americans,

Last Congress, we tried to bring this legislation [the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act] to the [Senate] floor for a debate and a vote. But our Republican colleagues blocked it with a filibuster. This bill [should] unite Senators across the aisle, not divide them. In 2006, 98 Senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act with no votes in opposition… At the time, Senator McConnell said, ‘This is a good piece of legislation, [the Voting Rights Act,] that has served an important purpose over many, many years.’ Yet today, Senate Republicans have no interest in [restoring] the Voting Rights Act to protect voters from the latest wave of suppression efforts.

Every year that goes by without passing this critical law leaves voters vulnerable, particularly voters of color. That’s why I’m calling on my colleagues to join me in supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Congress has the power to restore voting rights, and we should do it. Because as John Lewis reminded us, ‘Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”

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