Schumer faces backlash after calling SAVE Act ‘Jim Crow’ despite previous allegation falling flat

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood in the way of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) this week, claiming that it represents “Jim Crow” segregation laws, leading many on social media to bring up his identical claim about a Georgia voting law that resulted in record Black turnout.

Schumer pushed back on a Republican plan to add the SAVE Act, which would require states to obtain proof of citizenship in-person when people register to vote and remove non-citizens from voter rolls, to the spending package being debated in Congress.

“I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws to the entire country and is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Schumer said on Monday. “It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to… The SAVE Act is reminiscent of Jim Crow era laws and would expand them to the whole of America. Republicans want to restore Jim Crow and apply it from one end of this country to the other. It will not happen.”

Many on social media quickly pointed to Schumer previously calling a Georgia election integrity law “Jim Crow 2.0” before the law resulted in record Black turnout in the 2022 state election.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at a press conference with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii., following the passage of government funding bills, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2026.  (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“Schumer used the same line to describe Georgia laws that indisputably expanded voter access back in 2022,” commentator and writer AG Hamilton posted on X. “It’s incredibly offensive and unserious to pretend that every voting law equates to a renewal of Jim Crow.”

Many Democrats, from Schumer, to President Joe Biden, to failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, warned that the Georgia voter integrity law would be “Jim Crow 2.0” and Major League Baseball even pulled its All-Star Game from Atlanta in 2021 amid public pressure.

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Stacey Abrams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, speaks during an election night rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ultimately, the Georgia Secretary of State revealed that the law did not suppress turnout, but rather increased it, particularly among minority voters.

“Chuck Schumer sounds like a broken record,” Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital. “When Georgia passed a new voting law in 2021, Schumer labeled it ‘Jim Crow’ even though the state went on to see explosive turnout in 2022.”

Snead pointed to a University of Georgia poll after the 2022 election finding that 0% of Black respondents had a poor experience voting. 

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Polling booths lined up in front of an American flag. (iStock)

Snead continued, “Now, Schumer is smearing the SAVE Act the same way because he has no legitimate excuse for opposing a law that makes sure only American citizens are voting—which more than 80% of Americans support. Schumer’s smears were false then, and they are false now.

“Schumer and the Democrats keep trying to rig the rules of our elections by pushing failed, California-style election laws that invite chaos and fraud. That’s not what Americans want.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.