On Friday, McConnell also defended his record on race by noting that he attended Rev. Martin Luther Kings March on Washington. He also helped organize a civil rights march at Kentuckys state Capitol and was present when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

When asked what he would say to those who had been offended by his words, McConnell said he would discuss his record relating to voting rights, and brought up his role as a mentor to Kentuckys Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black and one of many Republicans who came to the minority leader’s defense this week.

I think he would confirm with you that I recruited him to run. Ive supported him, and Im proud of him, he said. I have had African American speechwriters, schedulers, office managers over the years.

McConnell rebuffed concerns among Democrats that state legislatures across the country are seeking to disenfranchise minority voters by pointing towards record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election.

Federal legislation like the kind he and other GOP lawmakers blocked on Wednesday also wasn’t necessary, he said, because the Voting Rights Act was still law and concerns over specific state voting laws could be worked out through the court system.

They co-opted Congressman Lewis name, stuck it on a bill that really was not related to the Voting Rights Act in order to try to achieve a partisan advantage by federalizing election laws, McConnell said.

He was referencing the late former U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement who remained a fierce advocate for voting rights for more than 30 years in Congress before his death in 2020.

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Hudspeth Blackburn is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.