Rep. Clyburn shares Biden's concern about midterms possibly being illegitimate
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., assails Republican state voting bills and questions the integrity of upcoming elections.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Thursday he was "absolutely concerned" about the legitimacy of the 2022 midterm elections on the heels of President Biden’s controversial remarks Wednesday.
"Are you concerned, that without these voting rights bills, the election results won’t be legitimate?" CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked Clyburn after Biden openly doubted it at his press conference.
"I’m absolutely concerned about that," Clyburn responded.
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Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said he is "absolutely concerned" about the legitimacy of the 2022 midterm elections. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Let me remind the audience, that in 1965, at the time of the advent of the Voting Rights Act, only three percent of African-Americans in Alabama were registered to vote. We come in with the 1965 Voting Rights Act and look what we have now. Nine years ago, the Supreme Court took direct aim at that act in Shelby v. Holder, and got rid of preclearance," Clyburn continued. "What preclearance means, I want people to understand, it means that if you change your voting laws, and you’ve got a history of discriminating against Black people, or other minorities, you have to submit those changes to the Justice Department, or to a federal court, and explain why they’re not discriminatory. If they’re not discriminatory then you go ahead and do it. So, that’s what we’re doing here."
Clyburn's remarks follow Biden suggesting that the midterms, which are historically difficult for the sitting president's party, wouldn't be fair unless Democrats passed sweeping elections legislation. The bills were defeated Wednesday after they failed to break a filibuster.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. Biden said it's the Federal Reserve's job to rein in the fastest pace of inflation in decades, and backed the central bank's plans to scale back monetary stimulus. (Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Wednesday, a reporter asked Biden, "Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?"
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"Well, all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election," Biden responded, referring to GOP state voting bills passed after the 2020 race. "And it’s one thing – look, maybe I’m just being too much of an optimist."
Another reporter brought up the remarks in a further question to the president.
"It easily could be illegitimate," Biden said. "Imagine if, in fact, Trump had succeeded in convincing [Vice President] Pence to not count the votes."
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 03: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) crosses his fingers as he walks to a Democratic House caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on November 3, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
Specifically on 2022, Biden said, "Imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit, you have to recount it, or we're going to discard the following votes."
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Shortly after Clyburn’s CNN appearance, White House press secretary Jen Psaki attempted to clarify Biden’s remarks.
"Lets be clear: @potus was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted," Psaki tweeted.
NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie said Biden's remarks were "astonishing" and pressed Vice President Kamala Harris about it on Thursday, wondering if he was truly concerned that this year's elections wouldn't be fair.
Fox News’ Tyler O’Neil contributed to this report.
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