Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is drawing fire for comments he made about Black voters hours before Republicans filibustered an election reform bill, in which he said  that “African American” voters cast ballots at similar rates to “Americans.”

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is under fire for comments he made about Black voters this week

  • When asked at a press conference about concerns from voters of color about access to the ballot box, McConnell replied: "The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans"

  • A spokesperson for McConnell's office said that McConnell meant to say "other Americans" rather than "Americans," adding that the Kentucky Republican has "consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans"

  • But that didn't stop the criticism from coming in from lawmakers, voting rights advocates and other officials

When asked at a press conference about concerns from voters of color about access to the ballot box, McConnell replied: "The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans."

“In a recent survey, 94% of Americans thought it was easy to vote,” McConnell continued. “This is not a problem. Turnout is up. Biggest turnout since 1900. It’s simply they’re being sold a bill of goods to support a Democratic effort to federalize elections.”

The comment implied that Black voters are somehow not American and underscored the concerns of voting rights advocates that Republicans in state legislatures across the country are explicitly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters. According to a tally from the Brennan Center for Justice, 19 states nationwide, largely with GOP-led statehouses, have enacted 34 laws that restrict access to the ballot box in the last year. 

In Kentucky on Friday, McConnell defended himself against his comment, calling it an "inadvertent omission" adding it is a “deeply offensive” and “outrageous mischaracterization” of his remarks.

"I've never been accused of this kind of thing before," McConnell said. "It's hurtful, it's offensive and it's total nonsense."

A spokesperson for McConnell's office said that McConnell meant to say "other Americans" rather than "Americans," and said that the Kentucky Republican has "consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans."

But that didn't stop the criticism from coming in from lawmakers, voting rights advocates and other officials.

"After centuries of building this nation, Republicans still don't consider Black voters to be Americans," Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley wrote on Twitter. "That's why not a single one of them voted to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act or the Freedom to Vote Act. We cannot pretend that the days of Jim Crow are behind us.

"This is 2022 and being American is not synonymous with looking or thinking like you," Rep. Donald Meacham, D-Va., wrote in a letter to the Minority Leader. "African Americans are, in fact, American citizens deserving of our recognition, respect, and equal protections under the law."

"The United States was built on the backs of African Americans; despite this, we have overcome institutional obstacles and barriers to be successful, contributing, productive members of our nation," the letter continued. "Your inability to recognize us as Americans is appalling and deeply disturbing."

“Hey @LeaderMcConnell,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, wrote on Twitter." For your information, I’m also an American!”

"I am no less American than Mitch McConnell," former Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker, who is running against Sen. Rand Paul in 2022, wrote on Twitter.

 

"Being Black doesn’t make you less of an American, no matter what this craven man thinks," Booker wrote in a separate post.

"It's definitely giving #MitchPlease," the Congressional Black Caucus wrote on Twitter, using a hashtag that caught on after McConnell's remarks. "African Americans are ARE Americans, 365 days a year!"

In follow-up remarks Thursday, McConnell said: “I have consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans.”

McConnell’s supporters called it an unfair attack, saying he simply left out a word and meant to say that Black people vote at similar rates to “all” Americans.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black, also came to the senator’s defense, saying the “faux outrage” over McConnell’s remarks was “absurd.” 

Black voters do cast ballots at about the same rate as all voters, falling in between Latinos, who are less likely to go to the polls than African Americans, and whites, who are more likely to go to the polls.

In 2016 and 2020, white voters turned out at higher rates than Black voters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The census shows that 71% of eligible white voters cast a ballot in 2020, compared with 63% of eligible African Americans. In 2016, 65% of white voters cast a ballot, versus 60% of Black voters.

Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League in Kentucky, told The Associated Press that McConnell’s comments were particularly frustrating after Senate Republicans blocked yet another attempt to pass election reform.

Reynolds, who is Black, said the lack of support for the legislation from McConnell and other lawmakers showed African Americans that they are “still not seen as Americans worthy of having our voice heard at the ballot box.”

“Our patriotism, our citizens status, should never be questioned,” Reynolds said. "And we are owed an apology, not just for Freudian slips, but for failures to honor the role that we have played in building this great country.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.