Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) lied about voting rights on Twitter this week, only to get destroyed by a journalist and reminded that his district is horrendously gerrymandered to guarantee he’ll win elections.
As Democrats continue to push voting rights legislation that would reverse decades of voter suppression efforts by the GOP, Crenshaw listed what he referred to as “facts” in a post that has since been thoroughly torched.
Let’s get some facts straight:
Allowing taxpayer funded political campaigns has nothing to do with “voting rights.”
Asking people to prove who they say they are with an ID is not “voter suppression.”
Making elections more secure and transparent is not “Jim Crow on steroids.”
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) June 22, 2021
The fact is that taxpayer-funded political campaigns even the playing field so one candidate cannot outspend another and would end dark money influence from wealthy individuals and corporations. Basically, the average American would have more of a voice in campaigns instead of that voice being drowned out.
Voter ID is about voter suppression because Republicans often make obtaining these IDs difficult by closing DMV offices or making them costly, which shuts out thousands of people, especially people of color, women, and the poor.
And the idea that Republicans want more transparent elections is laughable considering they literally want the power to overturn election results they don’t like.
Twitter users pointed out that Republicans had the chance to enact national Voter ID laws but blocked it because the IDs would be more accessible. They also noted that Crenshaw’s district is heavily gerrymandered.
Damn probably shouldn’t vote down a national voter ID then
In the name of election integrity pic.twitter.com/Vgnq3h0l1w
— Fresh_N_Fertile, Frail_N_Fragile, Newhalf_Newtype (@Femboy_Female) June 22, 2021
Allowing taxpayer-funded campaigns evens the playing field and reduces the impact of dark-money donors.
Restrictive Voter ID requirements that made the approved ID types hard to obtain was the issue
Closing polling locations and outlawing ‘Souls to the Polls’ is Jim Crow.
— Carrie Moley (@carrie_moley) June 22, 2021
How does preventing people from providing water and food to voters on long lines contribute to “making elections secure & transparent”? And that’s just the most obvious point in the GA law, which as a whole, is highly flawed.
— Pietro 🇺🇸🇮🇹 (@ConstantRebel55) June 22, 2021
Indeed, Georgia Republicans literally passed a Jim Crow law barring people standing in long lines from being given food and water
Michael Harriot of The Root, however, went even further and absolutely destroyed Crenshaw in a thread.
Ohhh @DanCrenshawTX likes to get “facts straight” about voting rights.
So let’s do it.
A thread. https://t.co/nB6OPXTUvn
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
First of all, Dan Crenshaw represents Texas’ second district, part of which includes Harris County, some places over there & some other parts
It’s hard to explain because Crenshaw’s district can only be accurately described as: “the white people near Houston”
Look at this: pic.twitter.com/aBy3yydzEI
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
See, the 2010 census showedTexas gained 4 million new people. But Texas had to figure out how to keep their districts majority-white, so the GOP gerrymandered the electoral map so bad, a federal court said:
“Come on y’all. You be racist but I can’t let you be THAT racist!” pic.twitter.com/TMpJI9KqKN
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
But it was so close to the 2012 election, a court could only make ‘minor’ changes. Then the GOP made the changes permanent, effectively laundering a racist map through the court system.
TX-2 ONLY makes sense if you can see where the rich people and the white people live.
See? pic.twitter.com/xPU0rKasji
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
If you think that story’s messed up, there are 2 more things you should know:
1. When they redrew those maps, the state of Texas didn’t gain a single minority district.
2. Remember when I said the state grew by 4 million? 90% of those new people were nonwhite.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
If only there was a phrase to describe the GOP efforts to make sure WHITE people stayed in position of SUPREMACY…
Nope can’t think of anything.Anyway, all of this happened before “Facts” Crenshaw was in office, so we can’t blame him. Maybe he likes voting rights.
Let’s check
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Just before the 2020 election, Crenshaw’s district added drop-off locations for mail-in ballots. Not drop boxes. These were places where registered voters could hand mail-in-ballots TO A PERSON
AT A COURTHOUSE
The GOP tried to THROW OUT 127,000 VOTEShttps://t.co/4L6Z8sxJhv
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Again, this is IN-PERSON VOTING. Voters would still have to show ID.
But Crenshaw didn’t do this himself. He might prefer the regular mail-in ballot system with no ID. Because he likes FACTS, let’s see how he feels about voting by mail:https://t.co/i9nfPHM3R9
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Why wouldn’t ol’ Facts’ll Rose want his constituents to vote? It’s not like the white people have better access to voting, right?
Meet Ahmed King. He lives in a Black neighborhood with long lines
How was he supposed to vote?
Easy. Just go “where the white people live.” pic.twitter.com/T3EzmUGthc
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Why is this needed?
Well, because the candidate with the most money usually wins. Sometimes there are TERRIBLE candidates who only win because they have the most money.
I wish there was a good example of a terrible candidate who spent millions of dollars to win. Hmmmm… pic.twitter.com/Zi1xvSfliX
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Here’s the electoral map for 2020
Maybe the ONLY reason this “Factshole” won win is that he represents “where white people live”
Or perhaps the places where the white people DON’T live didn’t have equal access to the polls
Or maybe it was the money
Now, about that money… pic.twitter.com/aUqhH3yAde
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
That’s a lot, huh? No wonder he can spend so much money!
Man, that’s small change. See, Mr. Big Fact’s number one donor is a company called Ilan Investments.
In fact, a lot of Crenshaw’s donors seem to be investment companies that have no base in his district. pic.twitter.com/E5iRfl68sA
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Those new non-white Texas are everywhere. But where will the white people live?
Welcome to gentrification.
In the first map, the blue areas are where rich people are displacing poor people. And that’s how you get the “place where the white people live” pic.twitter.com/god9xnYyyD— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Well, if you can draw your own district but FOUR MILLION ADDITIONAL nonwhite Texans don’t have an increased voice, they’ve lost their voting rights.
If they can’t vote in their own neighborhoods until you colonize it which helps fund your campaign that’s voter suppression.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Now imagine having all that blood and dirt and hate and white supremacy under your goddamned fingernails and feeling confident enough about it to gloat on the internet. It’s almost like you’re fucking crazy, Jim Crow…
As if you were on steroids or something.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
But if you’re wondering why someone would tweet what Dan Crenshaw tweeted, it’s because there’s a bill that stops gerrymandering. There’s a bill that makes campaign finance transparent. There’s a bill that accepts voter ID but allows mail-in voting.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
There’s a bill that stops long lines and gives more access to the pols and publicly funds campaigns.
But the only way someone would be against it, is if they were indeed a lying, cheating grifting scruffy-bearded throat-slitter.
Or just Dan Crenshaw
Facts.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 24, 2021
Republicans’ only objective is to make voting harder. They will clearly sink to any low to win their races and are even enabling future attempts to overthrow democracy if an election doesn’t go their way. They need to be stopped, and that’s why voting rights legislation needs to be passed.
Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons