Manchin breaks away from Democrats on election reform bill, reaffirms support for filibuster
Rep. French Hill R-Ark., tells 'Fox Report' that the Democratic senator's decision shows 'speaks to the center-right nature of West Virginia and our country'
Jemele Hill, the ex-ESPN anchor who hosts the podcast "Jemele Hill is Unbothered," excoriated Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in a Twitter post Sunday shortly after the moderate said he will not support the Democratic bill that aims to be the largest overhaul of election law in a generation.
Democrats called the bill essential in protecting access to the ballot, but Manchin wrote in the Charleston Gazette-Mail that any "election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen."
Hill retweeted the Associated Press’ report on Manchin’s position and wrote that his decision is "so on brand for this country."
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"Record number of black voters show up to save this democracy, only for white supremacy to be upheld by a cowardly, power-hungry white dude. @Sen_JoeManchin is a clown," she tweeted.
The tweet was liked 13,000 times as of late Sunday night. One of the users who retweeted the message was Vice President Kamala Harris' niece Meena Harris.
Hill, a staff writer at The Atlantic, has been known for her controversial posts. In July, she declared that anyone who voted for former President Trump is a "racist."
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"If you vote for Donald Trump, you are a racist," she posted. "You have no wiggle room."
Manchin told "Fox News Sunday" that he will vote against his Democratic colleagues' For the People Act, because it's too partisan.
"It's the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country, and I'm not supporting that because I think it would divide us more. I don't want to be in a country that's divided any further," he told Fox.
The bill casts a wide net over the voting process, including requiring states to automatically register eligible voters and offer same-day voter registration.
The measure also requires states to offer 15 days of early voting and allows no-excuse absentee balloting, which 14 states would have to implement. The states that already allow it would have to conform to the bill's standards.
"I think there's a lot of great things in that piece of legislation, but there's an awful lot of things that basically don't pertain directly to voting," the senator said.
Fox News' Evie Fordham and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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