CNN Asked Jeffries a Simple Question on Voter ID, and His Response Flopped

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had a golden opportunity to explain why Democrats keep fighting voter ID even as overwhelming majorities of Americans support it during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.

He squandered it.

What viewers saw instead was a master class in evasion, contradiction, and the kind of hyperbolic fearmongering Democrats deploy whenever election integrity comes up.

Dana Bash surprisingly asked Jeffries a fair question. “A Pew poll from a few months ago showed 83% of Americans, including 71% of your fellow Democrats, support requiring an I.D. to vote,” she noted, before asking the obvious question: “Why are they wrong?”

“I haven’t said that they’re wrong,” he replied, before pivoting away from the substance. Rather than explain why Democrats oppose a policy supported by their own voters, Jeffries retreated to federalism talking points. “We know that states are the ones who are empowered to conduct elections, and every state should be allowed to decide the best way to proceed to ensure that there’s a free and fair election.”

This, of course, is a lie. In 2021, Democrats pushed three major bills — the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the For the People Act — in a coordinated effort to federalize elections. Together, they would have overhauled election law by mandating universal mail-in voting, counting ballots well after Election Day, imposing automatic voter registration, restoring voting rights for felons, and dismantling core safeguards that protect election integrity.

The thing is that Democrats only invoke “states’ rights” when it suits them.

Then, in the same breath, he boasted that many states already have Voter ID, and then argued that Voter ID is a form of voter suppression.

“Here in New York, there are, in fact, voter identification requirements,” he claimed. “The question is that what Republicans are trying to do is to engage in clear and blatant voter suppression. They know that, if there's a free and fair election in November, they're going to lose.”

Fun fact: I’ve been a New York State voter for nearly twenty years, and, contrary to what Jeffries implied, I’ve never once been required to provide photo identification to vote. The only thing New York voters are asked to provide is their name and address.

But the most ridiculous thing is that he can’t even keep his lies straight. If he really believed that Republicans lose elections where Voter ID exists, Democrats would be all for it, instead of calling it Jim Crow 2.0.

Not even Bash seemed to buy that narrative. Virginia, she pointed out, requires voter ID. Democrats still won the recent elections there. “So why not maybe even just take that off the table and say, OK, maybe not a passport or birth certificate, but show I.D.?”

This is actually a bit misleading. Voters must provide some form of identification, but a photo ID isn’t required, and you can still vote without an ID as long as you sign a statement affirming your identity.

But I digress.

Even Bash’s proposal wasn’t good enough for Jeffries. Instead, he escalated. “What Donald Trump wants to do is try to nationalize the election, translation, steal it,” he declared.

Translation: Voter ID is bad for Democrats, and Democrats will therefore oppose Voter ID tooth and nail because they know it threatens their power.

Bash: 71% of Democrats support voter ID. Why are they wrong?"

Jeffries: "Republicans are trying to engage in clear and blatant voter suppression."

Bash: But Virginia has voter ID and Democrats won very handily?

Jeffries: "What Donald Trump wants to do is steal the election." pic.twitter.com/JuAAQqOfav
— CJ Pearson (@Cjpearson) February 8, 2026

Jeffries spent his time deflecting, dragging in gerrymandering, National Guard deployments, and imagined voter intimidation plots, but he never explained how showing ID to vote counts as “suppression” while IDs are required for everyday activities like flying or buying alcohol. Even Dana Bash seemed to get that.

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