Democratic activists are pressing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over her refusal to budge on the filibuster. Sinema delivered a speech on the Senate floor Thursday reiterating her decision not to support getting rid of the filibuster so Senate Democrats can pass federal election reforms. The reforms would take power from states and expand access to voting. Activists are now accusing the senator of protecting a Jim Crow relic and erasing the legacies of iconic black leaders.
The day before her speech, Sinema met privately with black leaders, including Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Derrick Johnson. Though she listened to what they had to say she respectfully told them she still did not support bypassing the filibuster for electoral reform legislation.
Those in the meeting were angry, one attendee said Sinema may have just wanted to “tick off the box” of speaking to civil rights leaders before her decision, and Sharpton said she showed “insensitivity, at best, and contempt, at worst, of our efforts and the efforts of the president.”
Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Sinema’s arguments “foolishness” adding “if we do not protect the vote with everything that we’ve got, we will not have a country to protect going forward.”
Sinema’s case for protecting the filibuster has been that it fosters bipartisanship by requiring 60 votes to pass legislation; if Democrats take away certain parts of the rule or eliminate it entirely, Republicans will simply overturn any accomplishments the Biden administration makes once they regain power in Washington.
In her home state of Arizona, Sinema’s fellow Democrats do not agree, Rep. Reginald Bolding, the top Democrat in the state House, said Sinema was upholding “the antiquated Jim Crow-era filibuster.”
The Arizona Democratic Party said it was disappointed that Sinema was choosing to “protect an antiquated rule over her constituents.”
Democratic political consultant Tom Watson said Sinema chose the side of “white supremacy,” and Democratic New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman called her a “traitor” to the legacy of iconic civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis.
Meanwhile, Martin Luther King III blasted Sinema and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, saying “history will not remember them kindly.”
