POLITICO NEWSROOM

The election reform idea gaining currency on the right

Episode Summary

Voting rights and election reform will dominate the debate in Washington over the next weeks.Meeting self-imposed deadlines has not exactly been the Democrats’ forte over the last year, but Schumer said Monday he wants the Senate to consider rules changes by Jan. 17 if voting rights legislation is filibustered. This has been a Democrats-only debate. So far from Republicans we’ve mostly heard a lot of sniping at Schumer from the sidelines. But one important dynamic to watch is whether Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his colleagues shift from simply attacking the Schumer move here to making a substantive counteroffer. There’s a movement afoot on the intellectual right to get congressional Republicans to back some narrow but important reforms. And Schumer will have to make some tough decisions if McConnell embraces them over the next two weeks.

Episode Notes

Voting rights and election reform will dominate the debate in Washington over the next weeks.Meeting self-imposed deadlines has not exactly been the Democrats’ forte over the last year, but Schumer said Monday he wants the Senate to consider rules changes by Jan. 17 if voting rights legislation is filibustered. This has been a Democrats-only debate. So far from Republicans we’ve mostly heard a lot of sniping at Schumer from the sidelines. But one important dynamic to watch is whether Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his colleagues shift from simply attacking the Schumer move here to making a substantive counteroffer. There’s a movement afoot on the intellectual right to get congressional Republicans to back some narrow but important reforms. And Schumer will have to make some tough decisions if McConnell embraces them over the next two weeks.