We knew it was coming. This afternoon, as expected, we had a 50-50 vote which means Republicans have filibustered the Democrats’ voting rights bill. Here’s the video:

BREAKING: Senate Republicans block voting rights reform bill despite unified Democratic support. https://t.co/5cSisnsrTI pic.twitter.com/gbwypqGHpR

— ABC News (@ABC) June 22, 2021

The NY Times says all eyes now turn to nuking the filibuster:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked the most ambitious voting rights legislation to come before Congress in a generation, using the filibuster to deal a blow to a bid by President Biden and Democrats to counter a wave of state-level ballot restrictions and fueling a political battle that promises to shape the 2022 elections.

All 50 senators in the Democratic caucus voted to advance the measure, known as the For the People Act, but with every Republican opposed, it fell well short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster…

Democrats’ only real hope of enacting an elections overhaul now rests on a long-shot bid to eliminate the legislative filibuster. Seething progressive activists pointed to Republicans’ refusal to even allow debate on the issue as a glaring example of why their representatives in Congress must move to eliminate the rule to bypass Republicans on a range of liberal priorities while they still have power.

Some sample reactions from those “seething” progressives.

Our democracy is more important than the Senate filibuster. Pass it on.

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 22, 2021

Republicans are brazenly sweeping the January 6 insurrection under the rug and have no shame in attacking our right to vote! We need to take action & do it NOW. Investigate Trump & his campaign for January 6, end the filibuster, & save our democracy. History is on OUR side!

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) June 22, 2021

Abolish the filibuster to protect the right to vote.

— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) June 23, 2021

Here’s AOC’s response. For her this is somewhat restrained:

Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people.

But I guess I’m just from that far-left school of thought that legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it https://t.co/NTtk28BwRs

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 23, 2021

This guy has an opinion:

It’s the filibuster or democracy.

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) June 22, 2021

Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican minority just used the filibuster to keep Congress from protecting our democracy.

We cannot throw our democracy over a cliff in order to protect a Senate rule that isn’t even part of the Constitution. #EndTheFilibuster

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 22, 2021

Now is the time for majority rule in the Senate. We must end the filibuster, pass sweeping voting rights legislation, and protect our democracy.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 22, 2021

Democrats are unified in the belief that we must act to strengthen and protect voting rights—meanwhile, Senate Republicans just refused to even debate it.

We cannot stand idly by as they use an arcane rule to undermine a fundamental right. The filibuster must go.

— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) June 22, 2021

The filibuster is a threat to democracy.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) June 22, 2021

Republicans voted to block even basic debate on the For the People Act. It's the latest step in their crusade to restrict access to the ballot box for Black and Brown people, immigrants, and poor communities.

Our very democracy is at stake. We have to abolish the filibuster. https://t.co/B8Vcnc9Zz6

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) June 22, 2021

We will not give up the fight to protect our voting rights. It's time to get rid of the filibuster and do everything we can to defend our democracy.

— Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (@gillibrandny) June 22, 2021

Senate Republicans just voted in lockstep to filibuster the #ForThePeopleAct.

We can't stand by while they obstruct progress and undermine our democracy. If we want to protect the right to vote, we must get rid of the filibuster.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 23, 2021

Chuck Schumer stopped short of calling for an end to the filibuster:

Democrats will not let this go.

We will not let it die.

This voter suppression by GOP legislatures cannot stand.

We are going to work tirelessly to see that it does not stand.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 22, 2021

Sen Patty Murray put out a video statement saying she wasn’t going to stop but not mentioning the filibuster:

Today Senate Republicans refused to even have a debate on the #ForThePeople Act. This kind of obstruction on something as foundational to our democracy as voting rights is absolutely shameful, and so I want to be absolutely clear: this is not the end of the road. pic.twitter.com/jGDMBMLFgQ

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 22, 2021

Sen. Merkley called for reform:

To make clear where I'm at on the filibuster: I've been leading the effort to reform the filibuster for 12 years—and the need has never been more urgent than it is now.

We cannot allow the McConnell Veto to undermine Americans' freedom to vote!

— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) June 23, 2021

"Today's vote proves once and for all: the filibuster must go. And now, before more damage can be done." https://t.co/YltYXeKuDR

— Common Dreams (@commondreams) June 23, 2021

That’s all for now. I’m sure progressives will be pushing this hard tomorrow which means every news outlet will have opinion pieces about why now is the time to end the filibuster.