Ayanna Pressley: 'Especially painful' to lose John Lewis during 'new moment of racial reckoning'

Ayanna Pressley.
(Image credit: KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)

More lawmakers, politicians, and former government officials on Sunday shared their appreciation for Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon who died on Friday.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Karen Bass (D-Calif.), and Val Demings (D-Fla.) were among those who appeared on various network shows to pay tribute to Lewis. Pressley, the first Black congresswoman elected in Massachusetts, said she considers herself a "beneficiary" of Lewis' activism while lamenting the fact that he passed away during a time of strife and unrest in the United States.

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Clyburn was asked by CNN's Jake Tapper how he thinks President Trump could honor Lewis going forward, and the congressman said Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), together could usher through and sign a bill to restore the Voting Rights Act. Tim O'Donnell

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