Manchin & Stacey Abrams’ Election Takeover ‘Compromise’ No Better Than S.1

On the floor, I discussed my opposition to Sen. Manchin’s proposed changes to Democrats’ voting reform legislation, which would still result in a federal takeover of local elections. Excerpts of my remarks are below, and video can be found here.

If Democrats were to accept all of the changes proposed by Senator Manchin, the Senator from West Virginia, and endorsed by Stacey Abrams, the rotten core of this bill remains the same. This is a politically-motivated federal takeover of our elections, and it will not stand.

The Constitution doesn't give the Democratic Party or the Republican Party [the power] to govern how states run their elections. That's reserved to the states by the Constitution of the United States of America. I will firmly oppose any effort to hand Texas' constitutional rights to regulate and conduct its elections to the federal government.

The one-size-fits-all federal mandate won't improve public confidence in our elections. It will be seen for what it is in a transparent way: a partisan, political takeover - a coup d’état, really - of the way that our elections are run. Elections should be run by the folks who are elected and who are accountable to the states.