Manchin meets with civil rights leaders after rejecting Democratic voting bill

Washington — Senator Joe Manchin met with leaders of several civil rights organizations on Tuesday morning, after the moderate Democrat from West Virginia announced on Sunday that he would not support an expansive but controversial voting rights and elections reform bill. 

Manchin's public opposition has all but doomed H.R. 1, known as the For the People Act, which the Senate will still consider later this month amid sweeping efforts by Republican-led states to pass laws restricting voting rights. Participants in Tuesday's virtual meeting included NAACP President Derrick Johnson, National Urban League President Marc Morial, and Reverend Al Sharpton; as well as representatives from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Council of Negro Women and National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.