LEADER JEFFRIES: “WE WILL NOT LET THEIR SCHEME TO RIG THE MIDTERM ELECTION BE SUCCESSFUL”

Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined members of the Congressional Black Caucus for a press conference where they made clear that they will continue to fight back against extreme MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump's strategy to rip the right to vote away from the American people.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Today's decision by this illegitimate Supreme Court majority strikes a blow against the Voting Rights Act and is designed to undermine the ability of communities of color all across this country to elect their candidate of choice. But we're not here to step back, we're here to fight back. Now, when this decision came out earlier today-it's an unacceptable decision, but not an unexpected decision. Because this isn't even really the Roberts Court. It's the Trump Court. And what we would expect from the Trump Court is an effort to continue their scheme to suppress the vote and rig the midterm elections and beyond. Because these extremists have failed America in every possible way. They failed on the economy, they failed on healthcare, they're failing as it relates to this reckless and costly war of choice. The extremists have completely and totally failed America. So they've concluded, aided and abetted by the Trump Court, that they have to cheat to win.

But the reality of our experience, our journey, now more than 400 years, is that we view a setback, and this is one, but we view setbacks as nothing more than a setup for a comeback. And America has the great opportunity to keep the comeback going by exercising your right to vote in November and making it clear that it's not Donald Trump or his Supreme Court majority that should be the ones to decide who gets to represent you in Congress. It's the American people. Now, they've tried to do everything they can-particularly in the aftermath of the 2008 election-they've tried to do everything that they can to eliminate and erase our journey, our struggle, our march in this country toward a more perfect union.

And now we're at a point where affirmative action is gone, diversity is gone, equity gone, inclusion gone, racial tolerance gone, the Voting Rights Act largely gone, but guess what, extremists, we're still here. And we're not going anywhere. And we believe in this country. Not a perfect country, but we recognize that what we've been given is a march toward a more perfect union. And at this moment in time, we are urging everyone to summon the courage, the character and the conviction of those heroes, like John Lewis and Rosa Parks and so many others, upon whose shoulders we stand. They had to fight through moments of turbulence, trials and tribulations. But every single time, they fought through those moments and were able to usher in a new era of progress. And that's what this moment represents right now. It's turbulent. It's chaotic. It's extreme.

But all of us are going to summon that courage, that character, that conviction and show up and stand up and speak up for what we know is right, to get this situation turned around. We will not let their scheme to rig the midterm election and beyond be successful. And when we take back the majority in the aftermath of the November 2026 elections, one of our first acts is going to be to make sure we pass the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act so we can end the era of voter suppression in America once and for all.

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