Schumer: Chances of Keeping the Majority ‘Greatly Diminished’ if We Don’t Block State Election Laws, ‘Everything Will Be on the Table’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated that if Democrats can’t come to a bipartisan agreement on voting rights legislation “everything will be on the table to get it done.” And that one of the pieces of leverage he has for Democratic senators is that if Democrats don’t block some state election laws, “the chances of our caucus retaining the majority and people who are up for re-election like Kelly and Warnock winning is greatly diminished.”

Schumer said, “[T]here are a number of members of my caucus who say, let’s try things in a bipartisan way. Let’s see if we can get Republicans to join us in dealing with this sacred issue of voting rights, and they’re going to try. And, hey, God bless them. If they can get Republicans to join us in big, bold reform, not dilute half-baked reform, that would be the best way to go. But if they can’t get us to join them, then we will have to put our heads together and figure out a way to get it done. As I’ve said before, and I’ve said this to all of my colleagues. Failure is not an option. Voting is too sacred. And everything will be on the table to get it done. They want their chance to prove bipartisanship, they’ll have their chance. But if we cannot get bipartisanship for big, bold relief, everything will be on the table.”

He later added, “So, the biggest leverage we have is this is the right thing to do. But second, there’s more leverage. Our caucus is going to know, if we enact these laws, it makes the chances of us keeping the — if we fail to block these laws, I mean, the chances of our caucus retaining the majority and people who are up for re-election like Kelly and Warnock winning is greatly diminished.”

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