Ossoff: We Need a New Voting Rights Act and a New Civil Rights Act

Sunday on MSNBC’s “American Voices,” Georgia Senate Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff praised black voters in the state as “the heart and soul of the Democratic electorate.”

Ossoff, who faces incumbent Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) in the January 5 runoff, emphasized the importance of black voters in the South and their voting rights. He claimed that the President Donald Trump campaign, Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), are “trying to undermine the results” in the 2020 presidential election, which he said was “a brazen and direct attack on the voting rights of black voters in Georgia.”

In an apparent effort to bolster his pledge, Ossoff called for both a news Voting Rights Act and a Civil Rights Act.

“Look, black voters are the heart and soul of the Democratic electorate here in Georgia,” Ossoff declared. “They cannot be taken for granted. And the hard-fought voting rights of black voters in the American South and here in Georgia must be defended. That’s why we need a new Voting Rights Act. And that’s why we need a new Civil Rights Act — to make the promise of equal justice and equal rights for all, regardless of race, a reality in America. And right now, what the Trump campaign and Senators Perdue and Loeffler are doing, trying to undermine the results of the election here is a brazen and direct attack on the voting rights of black voters in Georgia. Black voters have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. They’ve been hit the hardest by this economic crisis. Our state’s refusal to expand Medicaid, our state’s neglect of our hospital and healthcare infrastructure, our state’s neglect of preventative healthcare, the disparities in healthcare and education and economic opportunity have put the black community in Georgia at a disadvantage at a moment when this crisis has come and taken so many lives and destroyed so many livelihoods.”

“But the most inspiring thing … is that black voters in Georgia are standing up in unprecedented numbers to demonstrate that they’re demanding change in this country, they’re demanding competent, honest leadership in a crisis, and they’re demanding legislative initiatives that will expand access to healthcare and economic opportunities and voting rights and civil rights, and all of that is on the line in these two Senate elections,” he added.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent