WASHINGTON — Democrats’ increasing focus on defeating Republicans in next year’s midterm elections as the best way to push voting rights forward is angering progressive activists and civil rights leaders, who say the strategy risks backfiring and overlooks the need for immediate action.
The disagreement is the latest example of the growing rift between the Biden administration and its allies over how to respond to a wave of new GOP-backed voter restrictions they say will make it harder for minorities to vote.
“You lose elections, that’s what’s next,” said civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers. “You can’t take the voters who literally have not just voted for you, but died for these rights and not care about them or put their various issues at the forefront. The belief that somehow we’re just going to out-organize voter suppression is disappointing at best, asinine at worst.”
