Lawmakers, politicians reflect one year after Capitol riots

On the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers and other high-profile politicians are penning remembrances, thank yous to law enforcement and stark warnings about the future of American democracy.

Perhaps the direst warning came from former President Jimmy Carter, who in an op-ed piece for The New York Times wrote that "our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss."

In his piece, Carter urged Americans to "set aside differences and work together before it is too late."

"Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy," Carter wrote for the Times.

In a Wednesday night appearance on MSNBC, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, blamed the riots on former President Donald Trump and the falsehoods he spread about widespread voter fraud.

"The root cause of January 6th is still with us today," Schumer tweeted. "It lives on through Trump's Big Lie that's undermining faith in our political system and making our democracy less safe. The Senate will take action to move forward on legislation to protect our democracy and the right to vote."

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is currently one of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, penned a remembrance, echoing former President Franklin Roosevelt in calling Jan. 6 "a day that will live in infamy."

Manchin also thanked law enforcement and honored the officers who died days after the attack.

"America is always at her best when we focus on what we have in common and put our country above politics," Manchin wrote.

Stacey Abrams, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, tied her Jan. 6 remembrance with the issue of voting rights.

"Jan. 5 was democracy at its finest. Jan. 6 showed democracy in peril. Let me be clear: Insurrectionists did not and will never erase the voices of 2.3 million Georgians, a majority being voters of color, who exercised their power and delivered progress in the face of darkness," Abrams tweeted.

In referencing Jan. 5, Abrams was referring to Democrats picking up two Senate seats on a pair of runoff elections in Georgia the day before the Capitol riot. She also referenced a series of Republican-backed bills that passed in Georgia and other states following the riots that aim to limit access to the polls.