That’s the suggestion made to Tierney Sneed in this piece:

Also it’s worth remembering that legislation that would restore the Voting Rights Act — among the priorities Hasen urged Democrats to narrow their focus on — is already moving along separately from S1. Officially, that decision was part of a legal strategy: Democrats believe that by holding several more hearings establishing a congressional record before passing the VRA bill in the House, they can better buttress it against the kind of legal attack that gutted the VRA in 2013.

But, quietly, some voting rights advocates acknowledge that that bill has a better shot of getting Republican support than S1. Even still, they believe having a big, messy fight over S1 will grease the wheels for when the VRA restoration measure lands in the Senate.