CNN's Chris Cuomo accuses GOP of 'perverse holy war' to bring back Jim Crow voting laws

CNN host Chris Cuomo touted a far-left Democratic election reform bill on his show Monday while accusing Republicans of a "holy war" effort to pursue "Jim Crow" voting laws.

"Why would you bring back the most odious laws suppressing the Black vote, almost by design, since Jim Crow?" Cuomo asked. "You want a nice activity? Google 'Jim Crow Laws' in states where they existed and compare them to the language, phraseology, and the intention of what’s sold in over 40 states right now, some 250-plus bills. Take a look and be shocked at the similarity."

Cuomo amped up his anti-GOP rhetoric as scandals surrounding his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, deepen. CNN has barred the younger Cuomo from covering his brother after allowing them to conduct friendly interviews last year at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Cuomo invited Republicans like Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to defend proposed state GOP voting changes and openly promoted HR1, the For The People Act, which passed last month with only Democratic votes in the House of Representatives. The reform package would bring about unprecedented federal usurpation of state voting practices and includes a laundry list of liberal voting wishes, including wiping out state voter ID laws, allowing felons to vote, and compelling states to allow ballot harvesting.

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"Tell me why you call HR1 the devil's work. Because it is the only single act that can stop this wave of legislation," Cuomo said.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the "devil himself" wrote the legislation.

"My argument is, this is becoming some kind of perverse holy war for you guys," he added. "Hopefully, once again, Democrats will find a way to fight off the obvious intentions of people like Senator Johnson. They did it back in the day with [Lyndon] Johnson."

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In an editorial, the normally sober National Review blasted the legislation as a "radical assault on American democracy, federalism, and free speech."

"It would override hundreds of state laws governing the orderly conduct of elections, federalize control of voting and elections to a degree without precedent in American history, end two centuries of state power to draw congressional districts, turn the Federal Elections Commission into a partisan weapon, and massively burden political speech against the government while offering government handouts to congressional campaigns and campus activists. Merely to describe the bill is to damn it, and describing it is a Herculean task in itself," the editors wrote.

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Democrats have cried foul as Republicans in states like Georgia have pushed election reforms like ending no-excuse absentee voting, enhanced voter ID laws, and limiting early voting hours. While Democrats call it an effort to stifle minority votes, Republicans, including officials who pushed back against former President Donald Trump's voter fraud claims, maintain they are equitable measures that safeguard election integrity.