• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. voter suppression>

GOP congressman says minorities are 'gullible' in buying talk of voter suppression

Our Staff
February 26, 2020
GOP congressman says minorities are 'gullible' in buying talk of voter suppression

Rep. Doug Lamborn, who appeared with President Trump at a rally Feb. 20, said Democrats "want to stir up minorities who are gullible and believe that garbage," referring to voter suppression.

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Minority-group voters are so "gullible" they believe fabrications about voter suppression concocted by Democrats, one of the most combatively conservative Republicans in Congress maintains.

"The Democrats lie when they say, 'Oh, this is to suppress votes,' or 'This is to hurt minorities.' It's just a lie," Rep. Doug Lamborn said on a recent conservative radio broadcast getting some decent recirculation on social media, from both fans and foes of his thinking. "They want to stir up minorities who are gullible and believe that garbage."

The comments are a sharp rhetorical escalation in one of the most intense partisan disagreements over how to improve American democracy: Republicans maintain that their interest in strict rules surrounding voter registration and access to the polls is all about preventing voter fraud, and Democrats counter that the GOP sees its easiest path to victories in contests where turnout is held down by such rules.


Interviewed Feb. 20 on KVOR, a conservative talk station in the congressman's home town of Colorado Springs, Lamborn said he believes the state government is not working hard enough to maintain an accurate roll of eligible voters.


"It's legitimate for Republicans or anyone for that matter to make sure that county clerks and secretaries of state clean up their acts and really have transparent and accountable records, paper trails, and all of the above have cyber security," said Lamborn, who's in his seventh term. He is now among just three Republicans in a House delegation of seven, Colorado having shifted from purple to a pretty bright blue on the national map in the past 15 years.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

"Saying that 'minorities' are gullible for believing reports of voter suppression adds insult to the injury of this injustice," Rosemary Lytle, who runs the NAACP chapter for Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, told the Colorado Times Recorder. "We have states like Colorado where robo calls targeting people in Pueblo once said, 'Don't forget to vote on Wednesday' when elections are held on Tuesday. And Doug Lamborn dares to call Black and Brown people 'gullible'? We are only gullible if we believe the lies of the so-called congressman who was elected to represent us."

This is not the first time Lamborn has sounded racist on talk radio. In 2011, Lamborn made national news for telling a conservative host that being associated with President Obama's policies is like "touching a tar baby." He later apologized.

From Your Site Articles
  • Partisan tussle interrupts House probe of midterm voter suppression ... ›
  • Voter suppression claims undermine important causes and ... ›
  • Corruption and voter suppression leave a paper trail - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Voter-Suppression Tactics in the Age of Trump | The New Yorker ›
  • Voter Suppression Efforts By Republicans Target Minorities ... ›
  • Rep. Doug Lamborn (@RepDLamborn) | Twitter ›
  • Congressman Doug Lamborn | Representing the 5th District of ... ›
voter suppression

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
16h

Ask Joe: Fostering social activism

Joe Weston
16h

With an eye on 2024, some states consider new protections for election workers

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
17h

The crook and the fumbler

Lawrence Goldstone
26 January

Pragmatism is the way forward

Dave Anderson
26 January

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Our Staff
26 January
Videos

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff

Video: Veterans for Political Innovation - Who we are

Our Staff

Video: Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation!

Our Staff

Video: Kevin McCarthy is Speaker, but he's got a tough job ahead

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday End of Year

Our Staff

Video: Minnesota Gov. Walz asks fellow Democrats to ‘Think Big’ when it comes to fixing voting issues

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
16h

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Our Staff
26 January

Podcast: Why we misunderstand independent voters

Our Staff
25 January

Podcast: What does the House Speaker election say about the Republican Party?

Our Staff
24 January
Recommended
Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Podcasts
Ask Joe: Fostering social activism

Ask Joe: Fostering social activism

Pop Culture
With an eye on 2024, some states consider new protections for election workers

With an eye on 2024, some states consider new protections for election workers

Elections
The crook and the fumbler

The crook and the fumbler

Elections
Pragmatism is the way forward

Pragmatism is the way forward

Big Picture
Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Podcasts