The full transcript of my remarks is provided here:
The effort that we have engaged in this week, to strengthen – not dilute, as some have argued – Virginia’s redistricting process, is about the people and it’s about honesty. Honesty about what is happening all across this nation; honesty about the crisis points we are facing; honesty about the intentional damage that is being inflicted on the various communities that we represent: our farmers, veterans, rural families, seniors, immigrant communities, and children in poverty. We must remind ourselves that yes, we are Virginians and, critically as well, we are Americans. America is in crisis, and Virginia has the opportunity to respond – in this most precipitous moment.
This is a moment we must meet with urgency, and it is incumbent on us to act swiftly. It is incumbent on us to answer the calls of Virginians in every corner of the Commonwealth who have made one message loud and clear: they are angry at the direction of our country.
Across our country, we are witnessing a crisis of faith in our democracy and a crisis in democracy itself. The refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election engendered the violence of the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and while that tragic moment and the horrific images of people storming our US Capitol continue to resonate powerfully in our minds, that tragedy has been compounded even further over the subsequent years.
Since 2020, we have seen amplified efforts to discredit the lawful results of elections, to consolidate political power, and to rewrite the basic rules of fair and equal participation. Statehouses across the nation, from Florida to Texas to Ohio, have taken up revisionist history along with the redrawing of maps and the writing of laws in order to prioritize party and politics over the people.
These are not isolated incidents. Nor are they happening in a vacuum. There is a clear and direct line from the centuries of dispossession, disenfranchisement, and dehumanization of Black and Brown peoples to what we see happening today. There is a clear and direct line from Jim Crow, segregation, and redlining to what we see happening today.
Thomas Paine, whose words helped give birth to American liberty, warned us long ago: “The right of voting . . . is the primary right by which all other rights are protected.” When that right is manipulated or subverted, when lines are drawn in ways that suppress voters, every other right is undermined.
The right to vote and the right to fair representation are foundational to the right to economic justice, the right to social justice, and the right to civic engagement. And so when we fight for fair representation, we are fighting for better wages, we are protecting healthcare and healthcare access, we are responding to the dismantling of public education. This effort is not just about protecting representation; it is quite literally about access, equity, and justice.
If we in Virginia fail to act, we risk following the same path we’ve seen elsewhere: a path that replaces trust with cynicism and where voters believe the outcome is rigged before even the first ballot is cast. That is how democracies falter: not with one tragic, magnificent collapse, but with a steady erosion of fair representation, one district at a time. Not with a bang but with a whimper, as the poet TS Eliot warned.
Thomas Paine also reminded us, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must . . . undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” This moment, right here, right now, is our collective fatigue. It’s the hard work of protecting democracy from the slow decay of vile self-interest, contemptuous disregard for the rule of law, and the debilitating destruction of demagoguery.
So we have been called upon to act with courage and conviction. Some have asked why now, why the urgency? Some have accused us on this side of the aisle of playing craven political theater. As we all know, theatrics does have a certain role to play in politics. However, the serious nature of this moment is far beyond theatrics. It is also well beyond the hysterics of hypocrisy.
Virginia is among the states that have felt the immediate and immense economic pain from the chaos of the Trump administration. We know he is eroding the rule of law in his relentless pursuit of power. We know we must face the moment with urgency, rather than sit on the sidelines as we watch our democracy be stripped away in ways that will take generations to repair.
All across Virginia, tens of thousands of our constituents have marched and rallied. They have called upon us to act, to take a stance, to respond to the chaos and destruction of Trump's Washington with more than just empty words. This week, we did just that, and Virginians are proud.
Today is the first step in an endeavor to stand up against unlawful power grabs and return that power back to the people of Virginia. It is through our actions today that we may give Virginia a voice in deciding the future of America.
Madam President, I conclude my comments with a reminder of what Abraham Lincoln urged of us, his fellow citizens, in 1862; in moments of grave crisis, moments of historic urgency, we are called to act boldly and with full determination. It is Lincoln who said,
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
Madam President, we have just taken our first steps in disenthralling ourselves from the dogmas of the quiet past. Thank you, Madam President.
