Graham says Biden playing ‘race card’ on Georgia election law changes

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) accused President Joe Biden of playing “the race card” in voicing opposition to newly-passed changes to election laws in Georgia. 

“You know what’s sick is [to] have the president of the United States to play the race card continuously in such a hypocritical way,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday. “He said the filibuster was a relic of the Jim Crow era. Well, he made an hour speech when he was a senator suggesting the filibuster was the best thing for the Senate to make it different in the House.” 

Graham was responding to a question on “Fox News Sunday” about the state legislature in Georgia, which this week passed a law that changed a large portion of the local election policies, restricting access to polling places for some, beefing up identification requirements to vote and making it illegal to serve food or drinks to people waiting in line at the polls. 

Democrats warn the measures are akin to voter suppression and will disenfranchise minority voters in a disproportionate way. 

Biden slammed the changes this week, calling it “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”

“This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience,” Biden said. “It must end. We have a moral and constitutional obligation to act.” 

The president has called on Congress to pass H.R. 1, a Democrat-led measure that has cleared the House and would significantly enhance the voting rights of millions of Americans. 

Republicans in the Senate have said they will oppose the measure, claiming it opens the electoral process up to widespread fraud. 

“The Act would invert that constitutional structure, commandeer state resources, confuse and muddle elections procedures, and erode faith in our elections and systems of governance. Accordingly, Members of Congress may wish to consider the Act’s constitutional vulnerabilities as well as the policy critiques of state officials,” a letter from a group of 20 Republican attorney generals to congressional leaders said.

Graham said the passage of H.R.1 would be disastrous for Republicans in Georgia and around the country. 

“To my friends in Georgia, they had the highest turnout in the history of Georgia. We had 150 million something people vote,” Graham said. “So every time a Republican does anything, we’re a racist. If you’re a white conservative, you’re a racist. If you’re a black Republican, you’re either a prop or Uncle Tom. They use the racism card to advance a liberalism agenda and we’re tired of it. H.R. 1 is sick, not what they’re doing in Georgia.”