Senator Mark Kelly (D–AZ), is running for the election.
It may have been a reason why Kelly caved to pressure from Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader (D.NY), demanding that all Democrats line up to abolish the filibuster in order to pass their election bill bills. Kelly likely thinks he’s going to lose folks on the left in the Democratic base if he continues to stand on principle to protect the filibuster. But what’s going to happen now is that the Republicans are going to paint him as an extremist and/or a coward – and rightfully so – for caving to the leftist push — and that’s going to hurt him with the folks in the middle.
Kelly said that he would agree to a limited carve-out for “voting rights,” meaning he would agree to a “talking filibuster.”
Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York announced his intent to create an exception to the filibuster for the bills with a “talking filibuster” to hold the floor after Republicans block the advancement of the bills. This would allow for simple majority voting instead of the 60 vote threshold.
“If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote. Protecting the vote-by-mail system used by a majority of Arizonans and getting dark money out of our elections is too important to let fall victim to Washington dysfunction,” Kelly said in a statement to The Republic.
The problem is that that’s the coward’s way out. It is possible to be principled and uphold the filibuster if you’re like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV (and Sen. Kyrsten Synema, D-AZ). If you are agreeing to a carve-out for something, you’re throwing it under the bus for something you want. As Manchin noted, speaking against the problem of carve-outs, “Anytime there’s a carve-out, you eat the whole turkey.”.
These bills aren’t a priority for most Americans. Most Americans believe that the Democrats ignore their priorities. That’s one of the reasons that Joe Biden’s numbers are in the toilet. Americans are looking at this and seeing all the lies about “voting rights” that the Democrats are pushing. Wanting voter ID isn’t “Jim Crow” or racist. Most Americans support it. Even CNN’s Erin Burnett ripped apart the bull that Joe Biden was pushing about the various election security bills/laws being considered or having passed in a variety of states.
The problem of course is Democrats don’t want election security, and they want to essentially federalize elections so they can control everything. That’s another reason that Kelly is caving. Schumer claims that Democrats can’t have control of the system without Schumer.
Instead of listening to their members (like Sinema or Manchin), who have voiced their support for the death of the filibuster, Democrats have attempted to create a hostile environment around them to harass, pressure, and even demonize. Emily’s List said they wouldn’t be endorsing anyone who wouldn’t cave to the narrative. Sinema standing up for the filibuster despite that is great courage. Mark Kelly is not like Sinema.
Unfortunately, Mark Kelly doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude of his Arizona Senate colleague, who has already said that she isn’t budging.
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