The filibuster has been a thorn in Democrats’ side. Now it’s their last hope

Two years ago, Democrats nearly toppled the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. But with an incoming Republican majority in the Senate, it may be their only tool to fight against a conservative agenda.

For years, key members of the Democratic Party have been pushing for filibuster reform. According to one 2021 tally, 46 Democratic senators expressed an openness to transforming the filibuster, which prevents legislative action without a supermajority of 60 votes. And in 2022, Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren pushed for changes to the filibuster to pass key pieces of their agenda, such as voting rights legislation. But those efforts fell flat, largely because of opposition from Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who argued that eliminating or substantively tweaking the filibuster would create a more partisan Senate.