House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Rep. Susan Wild spoke with local community members at Easton’s Greater Shiloh Church for a roundtable conversation on voting rights to support Democrats last Thursday.
Jeffries opened his remarks to the nearly 30 people in attendance by lamenting the rise of voter fraud allegations and its increased role in American politics over time. He cited former President Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election, describing that such voter fraud allegations emerged despite a lack of evidence to back up the claims.
“That’s why we’re so committed to the effort of making sure that we confront this with the fierce urgency of now — address it and make our democracy as accessible to every single American as it deserves to be,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries called for passing the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill reintroduced in the Senate in February that would help reduce voter discrimination. In passing the act, he wanted to “repair the damage that the Supreme Court has done to the original Voting Rights Act.”
Eight panelists at the roundtable argued that voting for Democrats was necessary to protect voting accessibility.
“To think that all the struggles that we’ve endured, all the fight that we’ve had, may not go away,” said Carol Gonzalez, a community activist. Gonzalez added that Trump and his allies were “demons” and if Trump were to be elected, “we’re done.”
“We can’t let that happen,” she added.
Wild, who is in a competitive race against Republican state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie for Pennsylvania’s 7th district, spoke of voters throughout the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania’s 7th district.
While describing the district as diverse and consisting of many ethnic minorities, Wild said that “they take their right to vote incredibly seriously.”
“So many of them came here from countries where they did not have the freedom to vote or to vote in free and fair elections,” she said.
Wild also discussed the fear she and other legislators faced during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
“People were making the kind of phone calls that people make on planes going down,” Wild said.
The rest of the panelists shared Wild’s fear regarding the attack.
“I was terrified on Jan. 6 as much as Sept. 11,” said Sharon Levy, the Northampton County Election Commission chair. “I understood what was happening but couldn’t believe it.”
Minister Michalle Ridley-Washam, who was in attendance, appreciated Jeffries and Wild’s focus on securing the right to vote.
“Voting rights are always at the top of the list for me, because our ancestors fought for that, and not just my ancestors, but everybody that came into this country from someplace else,” Ridley-Washam said. “What was the most important thing they could learn to do? Vote.”
Jeffries’ visit coincided with another important visit to the Lehigh Valley. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson held an event in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, on behalf of Mackenzie, one of his two events in the Keystone State that week.
At the event, Johnson described Mackenzie as “one of my favorites” and an “all-star candidate,” according to the New York Post.
Both visits happened amid the race for Pennsylvania’s 7th district, which is shaping to be one of the most competitive in the country, potentially determining control of the House of Representatives. A poll from The Morning Call and Muhlenberg College released last Thursday showed Wild leading Republican state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie 51% to 45% — within the poll’s 6-point margin of error.
“Here in Easton and throughout the Lehigh Valley, we will have the future of the presidency, the future of the United States Senate and the future of the house determined in part at the same period of time,” Jeffries said after the event.
“If there’s anywhere where the right to vote and participate in our democracy matters, it’s here in Easton, in Northampton County and across the Lehigh Valley,” he continued.
A correction was made on October 21, 2024: A previous version of this article claimed that the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is a law. It is a bill.
Jeff R • Oct 21, 2024 at 8:48 am
Dear Editor,
Obviously you and the newspaper are not aware that Hakeem’s nephew graduated from Lafayette College, class of 1959. That addition would have made a nice touch.
Jeff R • Oct 21, 2024 at 6:03 pm
Sorry, meant to say it was Hakeem’s uncle who is the Lafayette alum. Len Jeffries. Hakeem is the nephew.