Washington, D.C. — Today, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, released the following statement after the U.S. Senate did not pass a combined version of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act: 

“Tonight’s vote on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act is dangerous to our democracy and extremely disappointing. It is shocking that not one Republican in all of Congress supported a bill that promoted fairness in our electoral process. That is a fact all Americans who care about the welfare of the nation should take careful note of.

“Already more than half the states have completed their redistricting maps, and while we have stopped Republicans from gerrymandering their way into an illegitimate Congressional majority, it is clear that maintaining free and fair elections need not be this difficult. Since 2017, we have worked to place in office people, with the responsibility of drawing the maps, who are committed to fairness. We have dramatically increased the level of public engagement in the redistricting process, and we are holding Republicans accountable in court through an unprecedented number of winning lawsuits. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would have set standards around the country and would have ensured that power resided with the people and not with self interested politicians. 

“We are at a moment of reckoning in America. The Senate failed our democracy tonight. We must all commit ourselves to action that will strengthen and restore that democracy — or we risk losing it.”

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