Voting Rights Act Rewrite Hinges on Little-Known Republicans | Hawkings Here

If there’s a shot at a deal in the next year, it may rest with two other House members who are hardly as well-known to those who watch cable television news. They are Republicans who have quite different, but equally pressing, incentives for bolstering protections for voting.

One is Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who chaired Judiciary when the Voting Rights Act was last updated in 2006. Now that the Supreme Court has struck down a central element of one of his most important legislative achievements, Sensenbrenner is ready to devote the twilight of his almost-four-decade career to winning a more lasting bipartisan triumph the second time around.

The other is Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, who was in charge of his caucus’s efforts to gain the most from redistricting for this decade. Given that last month’s court ruling will reorder some GOP tactics for maintaining the majority, and given that Westmoreland is now second in command at the National Republican Congressional Committee, he’s got as much incentive as anyone to be part of a solution that helps the party preserve its House strength — but also neutralizes accusations the GOP is out to perpetuate discrimination through legislative inflexibility.

The fact is, almost half of all the GOP’s House seats are in the South today, at least in part because the party has put the Voting Rights Act to work on its behalf. The VRA has helped them consolidate African-Americans in a relatively small number of black-majority districts that reliably send black Democrats to Congress, while still yielding a number of seats highly likely to be filled by Republicans.

If Sensenbrenner and Westmoreland can come up with a plan, it’s a solid bet a majority of their caucus would get behind it. The push at that point would be getting a big bloc of House Democrats to do likewise, which would probably grease relatively quick and easy consideration by the Senate.

via Voting Rights Act Rewrite Hinges on Little-Known Republicans | Hawkings Here.