Fighting Back Against Dismantling of Voting Rights

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Jackson for his steadfast leadership in this fight to protect our democracy, and I thank the CPC for bringing us together for this Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, we often talk about the right to vote as if it is just another issue before Congress. It is not just another issue. It is foundational. The right to vote is how people make their voices heard. It is how communities hold their government accountable. It is the foundation upon which every other right rests.

This is why the Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais is so alarming. For generations, we have marched, organized, and sacrificed to secure protections enshrined in the Voting Rights Act. Those protections helped ensure that communities of color could fully participate in our democracy and elect Representatives who would fight for their interests.

Today, those hard-won protections are being chipped away piece by piece. We are already seeing the consequences across the South. Politicians are rushing to redraw maps and dilute the political power of communities of color. Instead of expanding participation in our democracy, they are looking for new ways to silence voters, undermine fair representation, and make it more difficult for people to get involved in our democracy.

As an Arizonan, this fight feels especially personal. The Voting Rights Act is not some abstract law to the people I represent. Southern Arizona is home to communities whose political representation has been protected by the Voting Rights Act for generations. Those protections helped ensure that Latino voters and other communities of color had meaningful opportunity to elect leaders who understood their experiences and would fight for them.

The truth is, without the Voting Rights Act, Arizona's political landscape would look very different. The Voting Rights Act helped make it possible for leaders like my dad, Congressman Raul Grijalva, to serve southern Arizona. It helped make it possible for me to stand here today as the first Latina ever elected from the State of Arizona to Congress.

That representation did not happen by accident. It happened because generations fought to ensure that every community, regardless of race, language, or ZIP Code, could have an equal voice in our democracy.

That is why what is happening today is so dangerous. When courts weaken the Voting Rights Act and politicians engage in racial gerrymandering, they are not just changing lines on a map. They are weakening the voices of entire communities, undermining the promise of equal representation, and silencing people, period.

Congress must act. We must restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. We must defend fair representation. We must strengthen our democracy so that every community has equal voice and equal opportunity to be heard.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source