John, I was proud to reintroduce a voting rights bill named after my dear friend the late Congressman John Lewis.

, JohnI met John back in 1960 when we were college students and founding members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. We organized sit-ins and marches to advance voting rights for Black people who were shut out of our democratic process. Eventually, our efforts led to President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law -- but not before John was nearly beaten to death while marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Bloody Sunday.

In 2013, the Supreme Court handed down its Shelby v. Holder decision, which gutted many of the protections enshrined in the VRA. John and I talked about that SCOTUS decision and how it was connected to our efforts as college students.

Since the Shelby decision, we’ve seen hundreds of voting restrictions introduced and enacted across the country -- tactics that are pulled from the playbook of history and remind me of tactics used in the Jim Crow South. We’ve also seen insurrectionists storm the Capitol in an effort to overthrow a legitimate election.

John nearly gave his life to protect our sacred right to vote. Now, House Democrats want to honor his legacy and protect the soul of our democracy. 

The bill I introduced last month would restore and modernize the VRA, strengthening voter protections and combating the voter suppression tactics we’ve seen in recent years.

We need to keep the pressure up, John. Will you sign on your support for our efforts to honor John’s memory, combat voter suppression, and protect voting rights?

Thank you,

Jim