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Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On MAGA Republicans Continuing To Push The Big Lie And Undermine American Democracy

Washington, D.C.   Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding some leading Republican figures continuing to push the false claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 election potentially working to undermine democracy. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

A year and a half after the 2020 election, Donald Trump’s Big Lie is alive and well, unfortunately. Last night, hard right candidates who believe the last presidential election was stolen, so incorrect, with no factual basis, but these people with these beliefs were elevated into the general election. Many of these candidates are running in critical swing states and running for offices that will have outsized influence in managing future elections.

The example of Nevada’s Secretary of State Race is especially bone chilling. Jim Marchant, a hard right radical who openly believes that the 2020 election results were illegitimate, he believes the Big Lie, and he is now running to be the top elections official in the Nevada. Mr. Marchant is someone who openly think Donald Trump should be the President right now, and if he wins in November he will be Nevada’s most important elections official and would pose a direct threat – a direct threat – to the democratic process in that state. He must be rejected by the people of every political persuasion.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, a liberal, or a conservative, or a moderate: democracy is at risk if we elevate individuals who don’t believe in the sanctity of elections. That is the road to authoritarianism, to dictatorship. This isn’t a partisan argument: undermining democracy endangers all of us: Democrats, Republicans, Independents. If proponents of the Big Lie are elected into office, they pose a direct threat to our democratic way of life.

The January 6th hearings have made abundantly clear that even Donald Trump’s inner circle knew the Big Lie was utter garbage, so it is nothing short of horrifying to see that radicals who profess the Big Lie are gaining strength across the country.

I urge the American people to reject the credo of lies pushed by Donald Trump and his cronies, and, whatever your party, to vote this November for men and women who will safeguard our democracy and preserve the sanctity of our elections. Without it, our country could be on the road to ruin.

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