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Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as Seth Magaziner.
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May 21, 2026
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Download official House Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. Magaziner of Rhode Island was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.)
Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, generations of Americans fought and bled for civil rights, to make the United States of America a place where everyone's voice can be heard, regardless of the color of their skin.
Supreme Court effectively overturned section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which had been the law of the land for decades. Since then, Republican Governors and State legislators across the South have been racing to break up majority Black and Hispanic congressional districts.
King, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and Lyndon Johnson fought for cast aside. What a shameful way for Republicans to try to win elections, by breaking up majority-Black and Hispanic districts, to try to rob those voters from being able to elect their chosen Representatives in Congress.
State claim with a straight face that they are not engaged in racial gerrymandering, only partisan gerrymandering. Well, then why is it that only majority-Black districts are being split up in Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and potentially South Carolina and other States? It is only the Black vote in those States that they are trying to dilute.
people of color in those States that their policies are better. They have given up on trying to persuade people and win elections through campaigning. Instead, they have resorted to splitting up those communities to rob them of their chosen representation in Congress. What a shameful way to try to cling to power.
Representatives should be in miniature a reflection of the people at large. Yet, when it comes to the Republican side of this House, their own former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, admitted that they do not look like America. He said that his Republican Congress looks like “the most restrictive country club in America.”
Now, the Democratic Party is not perfect. We don't always get it right. There have been times occasionally when I thought that most of my Democratic colleagues were wrong on an issue, and I voted with the Republicans, but I am a Democrat because the Democratic Party is the one party left that is still committed to government of, by, and for the people.
color, or LGBTQ. I am none of those things, but when I look at the two sides of this Chamber, I know what side I want to be on. I want to be on the side that looks like America. I want to be on the side with an inclusive vision of America, that wants every American's voice to be heard, not the side that is cheering the destruction of the Voting Rights Act.
Lewis, and other civil rights heroes, not the side moving at breakneck speed to try to break up majority-minority districts and rob people of color in our country from their chosen representation.
{time} 1115
I don't care what your politics are. There is no honor in winning that way, and it is not good for America.
Republican colleagues should think about their own legacy. If they refuse to speak out against the racial gerrymandering their party is engaged in, if they stay silent, history will see them for who they are.
discouraged, but I still believe in the fundamental goodness of America. I still believe that the politics of division cannot prevail over the politics of hope. As long as we are willing to do the work, we will move past this troubling chapter in our Nation's history, and our country's better angels will prevail.