Despite adopting compromises proposed by conservative-leaning Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Democrats in the Senate failed to win a single Republican vote in favor of the Freedom to Vote Act. Because 60 votes are still needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, the Democrats appear to have run out of options for achieving voting rights reform beyond changing the rules of their legislative body. Senator Manchin had rejected the earlier voting rights bill put forward by his fellow party-members, but as Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has told reporters, by winning Manchin’s vote, this latest failed attempt at least demonstrates to the country that the Democratic Party is united on the issue of voting rights. 

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