(#4576) The Warnock factor

      US Senator Raphael Warnock from Georgia is going to have an effect on Joe Manchin and his stubborn stance on filibuster reform. Here is why! Senator Warnock is a black man, a preacher at a very sacred popular church and the most threatened democratic senator in 2022. those are facts that Joe Manchin cannot dispute. With the new voting restriction bill that Georgia signed into law earlier this year has put a bullseye on the back of Senator Warnock and the republican sharpshooters are closing in. US Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, knows this as well as the eloquent Senator Warnock. That both are working on a voter protection bill that will get all 50 senators in the democratic caucus to support is telling.
     Not because it will pass through regular order as long as the filibuster is in place. But because once all 50 caucusing democratic senators agree to a voting protection bill, the next logical step is for the filibuster to at least be modified to exclude the constitutional necessity of voter protections. That way Manchin and others can satisfy themselves that the regular order toward bipartisan attempts to pass legislation will remain intact. I know that Manchin and others have stated recently that they will not do a carve out of the filibuster for voter protections but as republicans continue to abuse gerrymandering and other despicable tactics to deny and manipulate voters the obstinance of Manchin and others toward a carve out of the filibuster will lessen.
     I know I am being a bit optimistic here but eventually Joe Biden will weigh in on his belief that a carve out for voter protections is at last needed. He put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of working some kind of magic to get voter protections into law and she will provide Biden with the shade he needs to recommend a carve out of the filibuster for voting protections. Once Joe Biden weighs in on a carve out it will follow that Manchin and others will reluctantly follow. To me, all because Raphael Warnock is working behind the scenes to make sure that Manchin et al. are inundated with the fact that Raphael will lose his seat in the midterms if we democrats don't protect voting rights.