Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family to Mark Holiday With Voting-Rights March

The nation’s capital will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a march for voting rights led by the late civil rights leader’s family, as congressional Democrats vow to press ahead on voting-rights legislation despite its expected failure.

The leaders of the march are urging people to call on Congress to enact changes to elections law nationwide in lieu of celebrations on the federal holiday dedicated to Dr. King’s birthday.

The Senate is scheduled to begin debate on voting legislation this week, but Republicans are expected to block passage despite all Democrats being united in favor. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) will then likely attempt a parallel effort to change the Senate rules to allow Democrats to enact the legislation with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote threshold known as the legislative filibuster. The march’s leaders support the move.

However, that effort is also likely to fail after Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) reiterated last week that they wouldn’t support nixing the 60-vote threshold. Without their votes, Democrats cannot make any alterations to the filibuster. “The honest-to-God answer is I don’t know if we can get this done,” President Biden said after meeting with Democrats Thursday. He vowed to keep fighting.

The party needs 50 senators to agree to change the Senate rules, which would allow Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the tiebreaking vote.