Credit: Xinhua/Sipa USA
U.S.-WASHINGTON D.C.-COVID-19-DELTA VARIANT
Austin, Texas (AP) – Democrats in the Texas Legislature were planning Monday to leave the state for Washington, D.C., in a second revolt against a GOP overhaul of election laws, creating another dramatic showdown over voting rights in America.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers were set to leave Austin before the GOP could pass a voting bill in the current special legislative session ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
By leaving just days after Abbott convened a special legislative session, Democrats would again deny the GOP majority a quorum to pass bills, barely a month after their walkout in the state House of Representatives thwarted the first push for sweeping new voting restrictions in Texas — including outlawing 24-hour polling places, banning ballot drop boxes and empowering partisan poll watchers. The decision to hole up in Washington is aimed at ratcheting up pressure in the nation’s capital on President Joe Biden and Congress to act on voting at the federal level.
It would mark the first time since 2003 that Texas Democrats, shut out of power in the state Capitol for decades, have crossed state lines to break quorum.
The drastic move lays bare how Democrats are making America’s biggest red state their last stand against the GOP’s rush to enact new voting restrictions in response to former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. More than a dozen states this year have already passed tougher election laws — but only in Texas have Democrats put up this kind of fight.
