Governor Shapiro: “We need a national referendum in these upcoming midterms against Donald Trump, against his enablers, against the kind of people that are celebrating the downfall of the Voting Rights Act today.”

Lt. Governor Davis: “We are going to continue to fight here in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro and I, to make sure we protect our fundamental rights and our freedoms.”

PENNSYLVANIA – In response to yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on Louisiana v. Callais that effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act, Governor Josh Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis spoke out about the severe consequences for the voting power of Black Americans and reaffirmed their commitment to protecting Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedom to vote.

The ruling comes at a time when Donald Trump and Republicans have continued to attack and undermine the fundamental right to vote and the very democracy that was born right here in Pennsylvania.

Governor Shapiro has been clear: this November will be a national referendum on Trump and his chaos, cruelty, and corruption – and he will continue to stand up to Trump and his enablers’ efforts to disenfranchise voters across the country.

Governor Josh Shapiro joined Wake Up with WURD to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. Listen to the full interview here and read key excerpts below.

Question: The Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 it, of course, was a landmark decision, and you know now they have scuttled section two of the Voting Rights Act. You’re a lawyer. What does that mean?

Josh Shapiro: The Voting Rights Act has proven to be successful at giving more and more Black Americans a louder voice in our democracy and more representation in our democracy. And you don’t need to be a lawyer to understand that yesterday, the Supreme Court just simply gutted all of that. They killed the last remaining part of, really, what I think is one of the most important pieces of voting rights legislation Congress has ever passed. And I think you are now going to see negative effects of that that we have to figure out a way to organize around and fight back against.

Question: Can you see some states coming together to file a lawsuit on behalf of their states with Attorneys Generals kind of leading that charge against this?

Josh Shapiro: […] You’ll remember that as Attorney General in the 2020 election, when Donald Trump tried to throw out the vote of millions of Pennsylvanians and rigged the election there, 43 different times I went to court against Donald Trump on voting rights issues, and I won each and every one of those times. That’s because Donald Trump and his enablers do not follow the law. That’s because there are people like my opponent and others who stand with him instead of standing with the people who have this sacrosanct right, this right to vote that we need to stand up and protect. All of that is to say, I would expect that there will be some amount of litigation here, and you will see Attorneys General and perhaps myself as Governor stand together on behalf of protecting voting rights. But make no mistake, Solomon, the Supreme Court ruling yesterday will have a dramatic effect. It will have a sweeping effect…Yesterday was a bad day. Yesterday was a day that undermined our democracy, undermined Black voices across the United States of America, and hopefully it marks the bottom and that we can begin to climb out of this. And I think the best way to begin to climb out of this is by changing the makeup of the Congress, ultimately then changing the makeup of who occupies the White House and beginning to pass some laws that actually respect all Americans instead of trying to tear down certain ones.

Question: Do you think they’ll be successful in changing their lines, even as we are right there at the midterm elections?

Josh Shapiro: This has been Trump and his enablers’ goal for years. Not just months, Solomon, years. They have had a plan to do this. It is one of the reasons why they packed the Supreme Court with his allies, was to throw out the Voting Rights Act. And I think what you will now see are governors in these southern states racing to redo their maps and to either eliminate Black representation in the Congress of the United States or water it down even further. You had Jeff Landry, the Governor of Louisiana, just to name one, who said, we’re going to suspend the primary and immediately go to draw new maps. They’re doing that in Florida. They’ll be looking to do that elsewhere. Look, this is now going to happen in Republican-controlled states. Perhaps some of it will get slowed down in the courts with added litigation, but this is now the new way of doing things, because of Donald Trump and his enablers. That’s why we need a national referendum in these upcoming midterms against Donald Trump, against his enablers, against the kind of people that are celebrating the downfall of the Voting Rights Act today. We need to take back control of the House, and we not only need to stop these bad things from happening, we’ve got to do some affirmative things to protect the voting rights of all Americans.

Listen to Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis’ response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling here and read it below.

“Hey everybody, Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis here. Look, I just learned this morning that the Supreme Court—the conservatives on the Supreme Court—voted to gut the Voting Rights Act. That act was fought for by people like Dr. King and civil rights leaders all across America to make sure that every person was able to have a voice and a seat at the table, to make sure that Black and Brown folks were able to build real political power. I want you to know that we are going to continue to fight here in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro and I, to make sure we protect our fundamental rights and our freedoms.”

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