Statement From Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson Symone Sanders on Vice President Kamala Harris’s Meeting with Texas State Legislators on Voting Rights

The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy—and defending that fundamental right is the most important work we can do as a nation. Today Vice President Harris met with 16 members of the Texas State Senate and Texas House of Representatives, who in May blocked passage of legislation that would have made it significantly harder for the people of Texas to vote. They discussed the restrictive voting measures that already exist in Texas, the measures that would have been added under Texas Senate Bill 7 (SB7), and the path forward to make voting more accessible.

Members spoke about the real impact and effects of denying people the right to vote – including that it could lead to denial of health care, underfunding education, and failure to prepare the state to address emergency situations such as when the state had a power outage.

Members also spoke about the strength of building diverse coalitions around common values such as faith, education, and economic opportunity.

Members thanked the Vice President for lifting up the work to protect the right to vote and to make it more accessible to all Texans – and by extension – all Americans.

Over the last few weeks, the Vice President has spoken with a number of local and national leaders. On Monday, the Vice President held her first meeting on the ground regarding voting rights while she was in Greenville, South Carolina. Today’s meeting continued that work. The Vice President’s work moving forward will focus on educating the American people about voting rights attacks, building a coalition to bring together Americans concerned about their right and ability to vote, advancing federal legislation, registering voters per the President’s Executive Order on March 7th, and advocating for democratic principles worldwide.

The Biden-Harris Administration will protect the fundamental right to vote for all Americans regardless of where they live—by working to make voting accessible for all Americans and make sure every vote is counted through a transparent process.

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