“Never Give Up. Never Give In.”

In the last Congress, the Senate came within two votes of sending historic democracy reform legislation to President Biden for his signature.

The bills were blocked when two then-Democratic Senators — Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin — joined with Republicans to prevent passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Our country has a corrupt campaign finance system, dominated by unlimited influence-seeking contributions from billionaires and millionaires, as well as by Super PACs, untraceable “dark money” groups, bundlers, and well-heeled lobbyists.

Our country has a voting system that’s been under attack by Trump-inspired election deniers and by Jim Crow-like voter suppression laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures.

But for those two Senate votes, historic reform laws would be addressing many of the campaign finance and voting problems facing our country. Those laws would be protecting our democracy and our elections today.

The late civil rights and democracy rights champion Rep. John Lewis said, “Never give up. Never give in.”

The battle to enact these historic democracy reforms goes on.

The Freedom to Vote Act would be the most comprehensive pro-democracy law enacted in decades.

The Act would create national standards for voting access, including providing no-excuse vote by mail and requiring that individuals with disabilities have the same access to voting as other voters.

The Act would restrict the removal of local election administrators for partisan or political reasons and protect against partisan, post-election attempts to tamper with election results. It would provide safeguards to end extreme partisan gerrymandering.

The Act would require disclosure of “dark money” in federal elections and would establish a voluntary small donor matching system for House campaigns.

It would also provide standards to ensure that spending by Super PACs and other outside groups is truly independent of the candidates they support.

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would strengthen the legal protections against discriminatory voting policies and practices by repairing the damage done to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by recent Supreme Court decisions.

Voters of color, Native American voters, voters with disabilities, college students, and the elderly are being disproportionately impacted by voter suppression laws that have been passed in numerous states. These laws represent the greatest voter suppression effort in our country since the Jim Crow era.

The legislation would restore the safeguards in the Voting Rights Act and help override voter suppression efforts in the states.

Republican control of the House has blocked consideration of real democracy reform legislation in this Congress.

But, the work to protect our democracy must continue. And, it is.

Both the Freedom to Vote Act (H.R. 11 / S. 1) and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 14 / S. 4) were reintroduced in this Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have both committed to making these reforms a top early priority in Congress if the political winds change in 2025. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is a strong and vocal supporter of the reform legislation.

Reformers will be ready when the opportunity arises.

DFAD, a coalition of more than 260 organizations working to strengthen and protect our democracy, worked hard to pass the reform bills in the last Congress and continues its work.

Democracy Sentry is coordinating the ongoing efforts between reform leaders in Congress and in the White House, and pro-democracy organizations.

The need to enact sweeping democracy reforms has only become more urgent.

An election deniers movement is committed to making Trump the winner in 2024, no matter what voters decide.

Voter suppression laws are widening the racial turnout gap.

“Dark money” groups and shell companies are on track to steer more money from undisclosed sources into the 2024 election than any prior cycle.

Record amounts are expected to be raised and spent on the presidential election. Billionaires treat our elections like their own sandbox. Former President Trump recently told a group of top oil executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign, promising them what they would receive in return if he wins.

Spending in the 2020 election totaled a record $14.4 billion, more than double the amount spent during the 2016 cycle. And 2024 is on pace to break that record.

John Gardner, who formed the citizens’ group Common Cause in the 1970s, would say, “Reform is not for the short-winded.”

His words still ring true.

We know reform is a hard battle. It’s a long battle. But, we are close to winning when the next opportunity arises.

Protecting our democracy is too important to let election deniers, MAGA House Republicans, and uncaring Senators have their way.

The work reformers do today will pave the way to the passage of historic reforms tomorrow.

This was adapted from a piece that appeared in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter that’s published on Thursdays. Read this week’s and recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here to receive your copy each week via email.