LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell pushed again Friday towards the uproar over a comment he made about African American voters, calling the criticism directed his means “outrageous.”
McConnell had been accused of racism for saying that “African American” voters forged ballots at related charges to “Individuals.” The remark implied that Black voters are someway not American and underscored the considerations of voting rights advocates that Republicans in state legislatures throughout the nation are explicitly in search of to disenfranchise Black voters.
Following a speech Friday at an annual convention in Louisville, the Republican chief mentioned he misspoke Wednesday when he made the remark throughout a Washington information convention.
“I’ve by no means been accused of this type of factor earlier than, and it’s hurtful and offensive,” he mentioned. “And I believe a few of the critics comprehend it’s completely nonsense.”
McConnell on Wednesday had mentioned that “African American voters are voting in simply as excessive a proportion as Individuals.” McConnell defined on Friday that he ought to have mentioned the phrase “all” earlier than “Individuals.”
He additionally defended his file on race by noting that he attended the Rev. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963. He additionally mentioned he helped manage a civil rights march at Kentucky’s state Capitol and was current when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
When requested what he would say to those that had been offended by his phrases, McConnell mentioned he would talk about his file regarding voting rights, and introduced up his function as a mentor to Kentucky’s Legal professional Basic Daniel Cameron, who’s Black and one among many Republicans who got here to the minority chief’s protection this week.
“I believe he would affirm with you that I recruited him to run. I’ve supported him, and I’m pleased with him,” McConnell mentioned. “I’ve had African American speechwriters, schedulers, workplace managers over time.”
Charles Booker, a Kentucky Democrat working for the U.S. Senate, had been amongst many who had blasted the Republican earlier within the week. Booker, who’s Black, didn’t again down from criticizing McConnell on Friday.
“Mitch McConnell desires you to comprehend it’s high quality for him to dam Voting Rights as a result of he has Black associates,” tweeted Booker, who unsuccessfully ran for McConnell’s seat in 2020 and is challenging GOP Sen. Rand Paul this year.
McConnell tried to rebuff considerations amongst Democrats that GOP state lawmakers throughout the nation are attempting to disenfranchise minority voters by pointing to record-high turnout for all voters within the 2020 election.
Federal laws like the type he and different GOP lawmakers blocked on Wednesday additionally wasn’t obligatory, he mentioned, as a result of the Voting Rights Act was nonetheless regulation and considerations over particular state voting legal guidelines might be labored out by way of the courtroom system.
“They co-opted Congressman Lewis’ identify, caught it on a invoice that basically was not associated to the Voting Rights Act … with a view to attempt to obtain a partisan benefit by federalizing election legal guidelines,” McConnell mentioned, referencing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.
The a part of the invoice named after Lewis, the late civil rights chief and Democratic congressman from Georgia, would have up to date the Voting Rights Act and was a direct response to a Supreme Court docket ruling that weakened the regulation’s oversight of states with a historical past of discriminating towards Black and different minority voters.
Hudspeth Blackburn is a corps member for The Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points.
