WATCH: Sen. Cruz says Democrats’ election overhaul bill is the real Jim Crow 2.0—not ‘common sense’ voting laws

"The majority leader used the phrase Jim Crow 2.0 and inadvertently he's right," Cruz said, "but not about what he's describing. He's right about the 'Corrupt Politicians Act.'"

"The 'Corrupt Politicians Act' follows the exact same pattern that Jim Crow did. It is partisan legislation written by elected Democrats, designed to keep elected Democrats in office and to steal the right to vote from the citizenry to decide on somebody else."

"You know, the most pernicious aspect of this bill has been the racial demagoguery that it has invited," began Cruz. "We've heard the Senate Majority Leader invoke in booming terms specters from our sorry history of racial discrimination in the past."

Cruz said that the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, as well as the President and Vice President have all used the phrase "Jim Crow 2.0" to describe stricter voting laws in states such as Georgia and Texas, where "things like requiring voter ID or requiring signature verification and absentee ballots are somehow a modern manifestation of Jim Crow."

He added that the use of the phrase was "deliberately inflaming racial tensions."

"That is a grotesque lie, and Mr. President, the majority leader knows that. The President of the United States knows that. The Vice President of the United States. They know they’re lying," said Cruz. "But ironically, they’ve inadvertently said something that is accurate about this piece of legislation."

Cruz pointed out that Jim Crow laws are written by Democrats, for the purpose of keeping Democratic politicians in office.

"Jim Crow legislation was grotesque and ugly. It was legislation that was drafted without exception by Democratic politicians. Jim Crow was written by Democratic politicians, and its purpose, when the Jim Crow laws were written, were to prevent the voters from ever voting out of office Democratic politicians," said Cruz. "One of the ugliest chapters of our nation’s history. And thankfully, we repudiated Jim Crow."

The For the People Act failed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate yesterday, with the chamber split 50-50 along party lines.

In Cruz's Tuesday speech, he took issue with many of the provisions in the failed bill, including the mandating of ballot harvesting, automatic registering of those in contact with the government for things such as drivers licenses and welfare, including illegal aliens, as well as the changing of the bipartisan Federal Elections Commission into a partisan one, changing from an even 3-3 split between parties to three Democrats and two Republicans.