'It's Voter Suppression, Plain And Simple': Terri Sewell Rips Trump Over Texas Redistricting Push

During a press conference on Wednesday, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) spoke about a proposal to redistrict Texas's congressional maps.

Transcript

00:00Thank you so much, Mark Vesey, for being a champion for voting rights and also co-chair

00:08of the Voting Rights Task Force. As a representative of Alabama's Civil Rights District, the historic

00:16cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa and my hometown of Selma, Alabama, this is very personal

00:22to me. I will not stand by while Trump and Republicans try to silence the voices of

00:28millions of Americans. Year after year, our colleague, John Lewis, would remind us that

00:34progress is elusive and that every generation must fight and fight to hold on to the progress

00:41that we've made and to advance it. It was John on the Edmund Pettus Bridge his last time, stricken

00:48with cancer, he said, his voice was mighty, he said, never give up, never give in, keep

00:58the faith and keep your eyes on the prize. That's exactly what the Texas delegation is

01:04doing and we are all standing behind them to make sure because what happens in Texas will

01:10happen in Alabama, will happen in Georgia. So it's so important that we fight back. I draw

01:17inspiration from the foot soldiers. Foot soldiers in my district who fought, bled and died for

01:25the sacred right to vote in Selma, my hometown. They are a guiding light as we face forces that

01:33would attempt to erase our progress, suppress our votes and erode our freedoms. To be clear,

01:41these Republican redistricting scheme is voter suppression. It is voter suppression, plain and

01:51simple. After stripping away health care from millions of Americans, 17 million Americans,

01:59to giving tax cuts to the wealthy and the billionaires, Republicans now that they can, they know that

02:06they cannot win a fair election. So they are rigging the game and silencing the voices of Americans.

02:14Just two years ago, the Supreme Court decided in the Milligan case that my home state of Alabama

02:20have violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by using gerrymandered maps to dilute the power of the

02:27black voice and vote. Well, what Governor Abbott is doing in Texas is far worse. What we will not

02:37stand by and do, nothing in face of this opposition. I can tell you that voter suppression is alive and well.

02:46It may not be literacy test of yore, but what they're doing is voter suppression nonetheless.

02:53Modern day voter suppression. We will not take it without fighting back. We will litigate,

03:00we will legislate and we will mobilize. We will mobilize because in the words of John Lewis,

03:07never give up, never give in. Keep the faith and keep your eyes on the prize.

03:16That's right. Thank you.