Chuck Schumer found himself on the defensive Sunday morning when CNN's Jake Tapper pressed him on his opposition to the SAVE Act. At this point, you would think Schumer would have come up with a better response to questions on this issue. But no, the Senate minority leader had nothing but the same tired talking points Democrats have been recycling for years, and that Schumer has been regurgitating nonstop for weeks now.
The SAVE Act would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and mandate photo ID to cast a ballot. That's it. During his appearance on State of the Union, Schumer couldn't muster a coherent defense beyond screaming "Jim Crow 2.0" like it's some kind of magic incantation that can distract from the facts.
The exchange started when Tapper asked Schumer about DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's comments on election security. Noem had stated it's critically important "that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country." Schumer's response? "That's a lot of bull."
He went on to call ICE agents "thugs" and claimed their presence near polling places "flies in the face of how democracy works."
Yeah, God forbid we make sure that illegal immigrants aren’t voting.
But the real telling exchange came when Tapper brought up Voter ID. He pointed out that approximately 83% of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, support voter ID laws. That's when Schumer started squirming. His first move was to deflect, saying, “Each state can have its own Voter ID laws, and some do, and some don't."
Translation: he had no real answer.
Then came the predictable fearmongering. Schumer again claimed the SAVE Act is "like Jim Crow 2.0" and insisted, without any evidence, “they make it so hard to get any kind of voter ID that more than 20 million legitimate people, mainly poorer people and people of color, will not be able to vote under this law." It's the same playbook Democrats always use when they can't win on the merits. Just yell "racism" loud enough and hope nobody asks for evidence. They did the same thing when Georgia passed its election integrity law, and minority voter participation went up, not down.
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"We will not let it pass in the Senate. We are fighting it tooth and nail," Schumer vowed, apparently proud of his determination to block legislation that the overwhelming majority of Americans support. He then launched into a rant claiming the proposal "shows the sort of political bias of the MAGA right." According to Schumer, Republicans who want basic election security measures "don't want poor people to vote. They don't want people of color to vote, because they often don't vote for them."
Tapper: 83% of Americans including a majority of Democrats support voter ID.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 15, 2026
Schumer: This is Jim Crow 2.0. MAGA doesn’t want poor people and people of color to vote.
He’s going to just keep saying this no matter how buffoonish and absurd he looks, because he wants non-citizens… pic.twitter.com/EhigP0mrSO
A Pew Research poll showed that 83% of Americans favor requiring government-issued photo ID to vote, with support cutting across political and demographic lines. That includes 71% of Democrats, 76% of black Americans, and 82% of Hispanics. Apparently all those people are secretly promoting "Jim Crow 2.0" without realizing it.
It’s not like Schumer hasn’t heard the stats before. He’s been questioned on the popularity of Voter ID laws many times in the past week or so, and he seems to choke every time he’s asked.
Senate Democrats have made it clear they'll block any meaningful election integrity legislation, even when it has overwhelming public support. Schumer can keep shouting "Jim Crow" until he's blue in the face, but the American people clearly don’t believe it. They understand that protecting the integrity of elections isn't voter suppression. It's common sense.
