Wilmington, Del. — In case you missed it, Lisa Blunt Rochester guest hosted a special edition of Her Perspective from DETV’s Every Woman. As part of her “Delivering for Delaware” statewide tour, Blunt Rochester was joined in DETV’s Wilmington studio by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings for a conversation about voting rights and what’s at stake this election season. During the discussion, the group discussed their work protecting voting rights, the importance of preserving our democracy, and why this November is the most consequential election of our lifetimes.

You can watch the full video.

Blunt Rochester on why November’s election is the most consequential of our lifetimes:

• “As [Senator Amy Klobuchar and Attorney General Kathy Jennings] talked about the obligation of voting and the sacred duty, I also think it’s a sacred privilege. [On January 6,] all I could do is pray for love over hate and love over fear. […]
  
  […] We don’t want to go back; we want to go forward. […] I hope that people will see [voting] as a duty, as a right, as a privilege, but also [that they will] connect their lives to their ballot. From clean air to clean drinking water and health care. All of those things are connected to your right to vote.”
  
  “Every year, someone tells you, ‘This is the most important election of our lifetimes.’ Well, in the words of Congressman Jim Clyburn, this one is the most consequential. [We will feel] the consequences [of this election] for decades — if not generations. Our democracy, our freedoms, our rights are on the ballot. And every race, from the top of the ticket to the bottom, counts.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar on what led her into democracy work:

• “I did not come from a political family. My dad was a journalist […] and my mom was a teacher, but I got really interested in politics. I actually had my own experience when our daughter was born; she couldn’t swallow, and they kicked me out of the hospital after 24 hours. And as a mom, I went to the legislature and got a bill passed guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay. So after that, I was hooked on democracy and this idea that you could actually get something done no matter where you came from. So, that’s what led me to get really involved in this idea that you just can’t have wealthy people run for office. And you just can’t have a situation where, in the words of one of my friends in the Senate, our Reverend Raphael Warnock, ‘some people don’t want some people to vote,’ and then what happens is they come up with all these rules and, ‘oh, suddenly you can’t vote on Saturday,’ or ‘you can’t vote by mail’ all of a sudden. All these things that have been going on around the country. 
  
  “And I ended up chairing the Rules Committee in the Senate, and we have worked really hard on getting some minimal standards in place into federal law […]. And I’m also really worried about threats on election officials and some of what we’ve seen in these last few elections. […] So, all of this means your voting rights are precious, and you’ve got to see it that way and exercise that because there are some people that want to take it away from you.”

Attorney General Kathy Jennings on the importance of voting rights:

• “It’s always been important because […] it’s our duty, but it’s [also] important because we are all students of history. John Lewis walked over that Edmund Pettus Bridge and he was horribly beaten for believing in the future of our country as a free country where every vote counts and every vote matters. 
  
  “[Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester] led people in prayer inside the House on January 6 — my prayer is that every Delawarean and everyone in this country exercises this most fundamental of all rights. And we’re going to fight hard to make sure that people who get elected in our state and our country believe in the rule of law, that they believe in justice, and that they believe that people should vote, not that they’re going to block them from voting, and that’s why we need to elect leaders like [Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester].”