The amount of vitriol the media has been spewing about a Texas election security law is shocking, but Wednesday's interview on CNN with one Republican lawmaker might take the cake. New Day co-anchor Brianna Keilar went beyond the role of tough journalist while grilling GOP state senator Bryan Hughes on the bill he helped co-write, to accuse him of trying to stop black Texans from being able to vote.
Keilar was hostile from the start of the cringeworthy twelve-minute-long interview, setting up her guest as the “the lead author of the controversial Texas Senate Bill 7.” On screen it read the so-subtle “WAR ON VOTING” along with the loaded chyron, “GOP Lawmaker behind restrictive voting bill joins New Day.” Throughout the interview, Keilar tried to trap her Republican guest with gotcha type questions, which he calmly clarified to the frantic journalist, such as whether Sunday voting started at 11am or 1pm. Keilar repeatedly asked him why the original draft didn’t say 11:00am because “souls to the polls [is] very popular with African-American voters” so “obviously this matters.”
But Hughes explained that this was being redrafted to the earlier time, and the initial confusion was just because “souls to the polls” started at different times, depending on where you lived in the state.
Simple right? Keilar looked frustrated by this innocuous answer and moved on to a more aggressive attempt to debunk voter fraud claims in the state. She accused Hughes of “being okay with suppressing voting by people of color:”
“They say everything is bigger in Texas. But actually voter fraud is not. Voter fraud is minuscule in Texas. So why are you okay with suppressing voting by people of color with this bill to combat what's really a non-problem?” she chastised the Republican.
Hughes turned the table on CNN, citing a case in his district where black voters brought forth charges of mail ballot fraud against a Democrat county commissioner. He called out CNN’s race-baiting:
“So African-Americans came us to with complaints about cheating. We are responding to that. I know there's a big national debate going on and you want to drag us into that, but this is about Texas elections, problems we've had here and an attempt to fix them,” he schooled Keilar.
A huffy Keilar denied it: “I'm not dragging you into any debate. You are very much at the tip of the spear on this,” she scoffed before insisting, "But the truth is, in the way that this bill is written, you are going to have people of color, especially, who are going to not be voting. You're going to see a decrease."
The pair then argued back-and-forth about the number of actual voter fraud cases being investigated in Texas, with Keilar petulantly insisting there was “only 43,” cases pending while the lawmaker said there were several hundred investigations in the state looking into voter fraud.
Hughes explained again how the media’s messaging doesn’t match up to reality on voter suppression:
[T]he provisions apply across the board to everyone. As far as turnout, about ten years ago when we were doing voter I.D. we were told 'you're going to suppress the vote, depress turnout.' We did voter I.D. and turnout went up because people know when the election is fair and votes are counted they're encouraged to vote and participate. That's what this is about. When Texans come forth and tell us this is how people are cheating, the problems we're having, we want to fix it.
Yet the interrogation continued as Keilar continued to suggest the GOP was targeting black voters. Keilar talked down to her guest with a strange gun analogy to help him understand why this bill was racist:
The crux of what you said was, you said that this -- that this rules apply across the board. And I want to ask you about that because what your bill does effectively, though, is it stops drive-through voting in Harris County which is the most populous and most diverse county. It limits the hours. No more 24/7 voting. The drive-through voting in particular, that was something that a lot of people of color flocked to. And it helped bring out their votes. And now this bill will shut that down. So I hear you say it applies across the board but let me give you an example like this. That's like saying if, let's say there's a gun rights bill that Democrats put up and said, you know what? We're not going to limit. We don't want to limit pistols, we're just going to limit rifles, and it applies across the board. But let's say that African-Americans prefer pistols. African-American gun owners prefer pistols and white gun owners prefer rifles, well then it doesn't apply across the board. You would argue that it's targeting white gun owners and this is very much the same thing.
As you can see, Keilar’s ridiculous argument tries to frame temporary pandemic measures, such as drive-through voting, being repealed back to the status quo, as Republicans engaging in racist voter suppression...which is the same argument CNN used with the Georgia election security law.
Afterwards, her co-host John Berman praised the “fantastic interview” and his co-host’s “impressive” knowledge of Texas bill, while they continued to rant about Republicans.
CNN’s partisan hackery was paid for by sponsor Best Western, contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back page here.
Read transcript portions below:
New Day
6/2/2021
BRIANNA KEILAR: Joining us now is Republican Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes. He's one of the lead authors of the controversial Texas Senate Bill 7….I want to have you clarify something off the top about the Sunday voting measure that's in the bill. The bill says 1:00 to 9:00 P.M., is that right?
HUGHES: The way the final language came out at the end, it says 1:00 to 9:00. It also says hours are expanded to at least six hours. The attempts to increase Sunday voting. We'll clear that up and make sure there's no question in the special session.
KEILAR: One of your co-authors said it's supposed to be 11:00 to 9:00. You have Democrats who say that a lot of times they have souls to the polls, very popular with African-American voters. They go to church, they go to the polls. Obviously, this matters. 11:00 A.M. Or 1:00 P.M. Will it be 11 am?
HUGHES: Souls to the polls is popular in east Texas as well. We want to make sure people have the right to do that. If there's any limit at all it's going to be plenty open to allow souls to the polls. The provision they added in the house?
KEILAR: Is that right, though, 11:00 A.M.? Can you back up what the state rep [indiscernible] said?
HUGHES: 11:00 A.M., if there's any limit at all. We want to make sure people are not limited on what they can do for souls to the polls.
KEILAR: Ok I mean, was that an error?
HUGHES: That was added over in the house and I'll defer to my house colleagues on the details. I will say the bill said --
KEILAR: Okay it came out of conference committee so you actually had the senate and the house together. This was the final bill.
HUGHES: That is right. That was added by the house.
[crosstalk]
HUGHES: The house had that provision at the end. They say it was a typo. I'll take their words for it. The intent is to extend Sunday hours, not to make them smaller.
KEILAR: Ok, so If it was a typo, why did you defend it? Why did you defend when you were supporting this bill?
HUGHES: Souls to the polls --
KEILAR: ‘They want to go to church, too, that's why it says 1:00 P.M., no later than 9:00. You can make Sunday service and go after that’ and then you admitted you talked to election workers about this.
HUGHES: As a matter of fact, souls to the polls and in Harris county, is normally done starting at 1:00. They've done it from 1:00 on for a long time. This is nothing new. Souls to the polls where I live, folks go to church, eat and then go vote. Central West reminded us sometimes folks vote early and then go eat. So we're going to clean it up to make sure there's no question about it.
KEILAR: Ok, um, voter fraud. They say everything is bigger in Texas. But actually voter fraud is not. Voter fraud is minuscule in Texas. So why are you okay with suppressing voting by people of color with this bill to combat what's really a non problem?
HUGHES: People ask me how about the amount of voter fraud. My question is, how much is okay? In my district I have a county commissioner, elected official under criminal indictment for mail ballot fraud. Happens to be a Democrat and the charges were brought by Democrats. They happen to be African-Americans. So African-Americans came us to with complaints about cheating. We are responding to that. I know there's a big national debate going on and you want to drag us into that, but this is about Texas elections, problems we've had here and an attempt to fix them.
KEILAR: I'm not dragging you into any debate. You are very much at the tip of the spear on this. But what I will say, look, you say how much voter fraud is enough? But the truth is, in the way that this bill is written, you are going to have people of color, especially, who are going to not be voting. You're going to see a decrease and I just ask why is that when you only have 43 pending voter fraud charges in Texas, only one is from 2020. You've previously misquoted that as I think 400. It's really 43. Only one is from 2020. And there were 16 minor prosecution for 2020. It was just people putting down addresses that weren't theirs.
HUGHES: There are hundreds of open cases in Texas. The courts have --
KEILAR: No, there's not. There's not. There's not.
HUGHES: The investigation is pending. Oh, there are.
KEILAR: There's not hundreds! You may be talking about complaints which anyone can file. There are not hundreds of open cases. There are 43 pending voter fraud charges in Texas. This is according to your Republican Attorney General's office. There are not hundreds, sir.
HUGHES: I'm speaking about the investigations. Courts are slow now because of COVID-19. When someone makes a complaint we have to investigate it. We take those seriously. No matter what they are about. As far as this goes this is in response to things we've learned in Texas, in my district, in the valley, in suburban Texas. The provisions apply across the board to everyone. As far as turnout, about ten years ago when we were doing voter I.D. We were told you're going to suppress the vote, depress turnout. We did voter I.D. And turnout went up because people know when the election is fair and votes are counted they're encouraged to vote and participate. That's what this is about. When Texans come forth and tell us this is how people are cheating, the problems we're having, we want to fix it. It's an ongoing process in Texas.
…
KEILAR: The crux of what you said was, you said that this -- that this rules apply across the board. And I want to ask you about that because what your bill does effectively, though, is it stops drive-through voting in Harris County which is the most populous and most diverse county. It limits the hours. No more 24/7 voting. The drive-through voting in particular, that was something that a lot of people of color flocked to. And it helped bring out their votes. And now this bill will shut that down. So I hear you say it applies across the board but let me give you an example like this. That's like saying if, let's say there's a gun rights bill that Democrats put up and said, you know what? We're not going to limit. We don't want to limit pistols, we're just going to limit rifles, and it applies across the board. But let's say that African-Americans prefer pistols. African-American gun owners prefer pistols and white gun owners prefer rifles, well then it doesn't apply across the board. You would argue that it's targeting white gun owners and this is very much the same thing.
HUGHES: Turnout was up in Texas in all sectors across the board. Not just in Harris county. As far as these provisions go, the Harris county elections administrator said this. They said we're going to stop drive-through voting before election day because we're concerned they won't count. I think all voters want it to count.
