The ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said he thinks African-American voter turnout will be high today because blacks are upset with how President Obama has been treated while in office.
“I predicted a long time ago that African-American people would come out in record numbers, and that’s already what is happening in my district. They are coming out in record numbers because they do not like the idea that there seems to be a concerted effort to stop them from voting,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who has been critical of the True the Vote group.
The congressman said on MSNBC he’d talked to elderly constituents who were crying about seeing long lines around the country on TV, feeling “like they’re going backwards.”
“There’s another thing that’s happening with African-American people that are gonna cause them to turn out in greater numbers,” Cummings said. “A lot of people feel very upset about the way this president has been treated. They feel he’s been treated very unfairly in so many ways, and they know that everything he has tried to do — they are very much aware of this — the Republicans have tried to stop him. ”
“And then they hear people say, ‘Oh, he didn’t get along with everybody.’ Well, when you have somebody trying to get you out of office before you even get into office, and going against every single thing you try to do, I mean, how — it’s kind of hard to be friends,” he continued.
“But I’m hoping that after this election is over that they will say, ‘You know what, you know, we’ve got to do what is right by the American people, work with this president, and so that we all emerge together just like Governor Christie and the president.’ That was an emotional picture to me to see those two guys who really, really care about this country emerge to do some great things for people who are in trouble,” Cummings added.
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