Texas, my home state, did well this last election. Then the Big Freeze happened and Texas signed a “heartbeat” anti-abortion law. I have been hanging my head in shame until this weekend. Texas Democrats walked off the House floor to kill voting suppression laws that sore loser Republicans were trying to pass. They tried to pass some of the most restrictive voting laws so far and the Texas Democrats said “hell no.” The Democrats received a text from Rep. Chris Turner to walk off the floor. This forcing Republican Speaker Dade Phelan to concede the vote because they did not have the 100 members needed for a quorum. A temporary move but boss all the same. Below is more on the story from CNN:
Their move effectively killed Senate Bill 7 for this year’s legislative session. But it could soon be revived: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Sunday night that he is adding “election integrity” to a list of topics lawmakers will address in a special session he plans to call.
“Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session,” Abbott said.
Democrats left the chamber at about 10:45 p.m., CT, leaving Republican Speaker Dade Phelan to concede that the House did not have the 100 members necessary for a quorum and to adjourn the House for the night.
It’s not yet clear when Abbott will call the special session. It’s also not clear whether Republicans will enter the special session set on approving SB 7 as it’s currently drafted or will seek to make further changes.
A source tells CNN that Rep. Chris Turner, the House Democratic Caucus chair, sent a text message to all of its members at 10:35 p.m., local time, that read, “Take your key and leave the chamber discretely. Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building.”
Democrats’ decision to leave the House floor and block the bill’s passage came after hours of contentious debate — including Republicans refusing to take questions from Democrats about what the bill would do.
“We used all the tools in our toolbox to fight this bill, and tonight we pulled out that last one,” said Rep. Nicole Collier, who chairs the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, during a midnight news conference at a church in East Austin. “We are no longer going to stand and let them continue to push measures that disenfranchise our voters.”
Collier compared SB 7 to poll taxes and other laws that have historically made it more difficult for Black and Latino people to vote.
“There’s no widespread voter fraud. And so for them to mislead all of Texas into believing that there’s an issue — we’re going to call them out for that,” Collier said. “We may have won the war tonight, but the battle is not over.”
And of course the Republicans don’t know how to lose so now Gov. Abbott is threatening to veto Article 10 of the budget so that Texas senators and representatives won’t get paid. Oh well, the Texas Dems just beat the Republicans at their own game and I am so proud. Like one of the Reps said, why would we be party to laws that would disenfranchise our voters? These Trump sycophants are doing a lot and are refusing to admit that this is not about voter fraud but about voter suppression. The Republican prefer fascism to fairness. I will be ACTIVELY working with Beto O’Rourke the next year to topple the Texas Republicans. They have made it damn near impossible for Texas to go blue. And I promise you, Texas is NOT a Republican stronghold. I would even argue that a large swath of Texas is more progressive than people give it credit for. I believe that this is why the Texas Republicans are trying to stop people from voting. They KNOW their time is almost up. As for Abbott, I hope he knows his days in office are numbered. It is time Texans take their state back.
I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature.
Article 10 funds the legislative branch.
No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities.
Stay tuned.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 31, 2021
I was so proud to see that. This is how you fight! Bad Ass!!
Texas and California have remarkably similar demographics. They should both be firmly blue. But for decades Texas has been a pioneer of voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement. The Texas republican party created the tricks that are being exported all over the country —- voter id, signature verification, notary signature requirements, eliminating drop boxes, minimizing voting machines in minority districts, limiting mail-in voting, posting cops at polling stations, reducing the number of polling stations, etc. They’ve been anti-democratic because they can’t win on policy or sheer numbers.
I’m foreign so I don’t know a lot about US politics but how does these people keep winning elections in their home states ? There has to be some kind of laws to stop this right ?
The Republicans have been slowly changing laws over the decades so that it makes it much harder for minorities to vote and giving more power to their traditional white base. And their traditional white base is completely ignorant of what is actually happening (aka they are afraid to actually face it or they are already white supremacist themselves). I live in Texas and I see this all the time.
Fox News and other ultra right wing news sites are the only source of information for their base of voters. They refuse to listen to world media and live in their own bubble. They also actively attack within their own conservative base any journalist/media person who is not ultra right wing so that the messages from the less “super ultra right” are suppressed in favor of news that allows them to control their masses of voters easier.
Oh, I should add that their base who is not white they string along with single voter issues like “abortion” and “economy” at least that’s why people tell me they vote for them. Their economy plans suck and only benefit the wealthy. Their “abortion” only serves as a way to pull back women’s rights – they are not at all concerned with the pregnant women or the babies in their bellies (they kill social programs that provide free prenatal care). They even less concerned with any children after they are born. (they are against any kind of social programs to help families unless it’s rich or middle class families in wealthy or white strongholds).
The reason the GOP has been able to retain power at the state level to be able to enact these egregious laws is highly partisan gerrymandering. The GOP draws districts based on census data to ensure that voters they think will be opposition (minorities & registered Democrats) will be diluted by an overabundance of Republican voters. Here’s a link to a map of Dan Crenshaw’s (R-TX) district They’re able to keep Republicans in the Senate & swing a state for a Republican candidate for POTUS because it’s not the actual votes that count but who wins the district that rolls up to determine how a state’s winners/POTUS electors are chosen
exactly what I’ve been preaching
Tinfoil hat time: I believe the GOP has been stealing elections for years, including in Texas. I think they know that they’re beyond the point they can steal them so quietly, so they’re just going for doing it out loud.
yeah they stole Florida in 2000. i never forgot it or got over it. what would our supreme court look like had the winner of the 2000 election, al gore, taken office? and they stole 2016 too, yes. who knows how many senate and congressional seats, good god. no one will ever know. and state legislatures? we are living under minority rule, that’s a fact.
Darla, to this day thinking about 2000 makes me want to cry. When I saw the videos of those “Brooks Brothers” rioters banging on the doors as people were trying to do the recount, I knew we were in trouble. Then the Supreme Court came in for the final blow.
I have a strong suspicion Republicans have been doing things like this for years. It’s just that no one paid that much attention to it until Trump shined a big spotlight on it. He caused a lot of problems, but he also woke up a lot of people, myself included. And yes, the ‘woke’ pun was 100% intended.
Republicans are terrified of Texas becoming another Georgia, as they should be.
Greg Abbott has been doing the most to make Texans forget about the hundreds of people he killed this winter. I won’t forget and will cast my vote against him I only hope we can flip Texas this time.
Seriously. I will support Beto from afar. You guys deserve so much better.
Me too. And while we’re at it, can we just get rid of the sexist racist assholes that control the Texas School Board that picks what goes in textbooks? Because I would like some actual REAL TEXTBOOKS and not the sexist racist right wing propaganda text books please that gloss over the dark periods in US and world history. And the white washing of Texas history is such a joke at this point.
@goofpuff, you and @leigh (and of course, Oya) are speaking my language. I don’t have kids, and pay INCREDIBLY close attention to what’s happening with the Texas School Board. Saturday I marched on the Capitol with a few thousand of my fellow Texans opposing SB8. I’ve just got to have hope, as hard as it is sometimes, that we’re slowing clawing our state back.
Well! We finally found them — Democrats with a spine! Too bad we don’t have more of them in DC at the moment.
So proud of these Democrats! My biggest complaint about our party is our refusal to fight with everything we’ve got. This was bada$$
It has been difficult to be a proud Texan with jackasses like Abbott, Ted Cruz, and Cornyn representing my state. However, there was a burst of joy when the Texas Democrats walked out. I adore Beto and am so relieved and happy that he is remaining so involved Texas politics. I will also be working on his behalf. Meanwhile, Greg Abbott continues to be an embarrassment.
Beto O’Rourke has been doing amazing things to help the people of Texas. I hope he runs for Governor.
I do too!! But he spoke about NOT a running for governor and that broke my heart!! Actually, Texas was historically a strong Democrat place until the ‘90’s, when Bush became governor.
As a Texan, I am appalled and embarrassed about being from this state. I grew up with Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland. My mother cried for a week when Leland died in a plane crash.
But we had historically been a strong hold for Democrats until the early ‘90’s. Now we have these idiots that are destroying Texas and all of our previous steps to become a state with the forethought of the future have been destroyed. Look at the power grid, which was created by the Repugnant’s and we had over 700 people die!! It happened in 2011 as well, and again, the Repugnant’s did nothing to ensure that it didn’t happen again, but it did and many people lost their lives.
Though, as long as we have more Silicon Valley people move here, they are taking over Austin, the more we will turn blue. This is why this POS Abbot and his little henchman, Patrick, will use everything in their arsenal to reverse all of the voting powers.
As for the Democrats walking out, I applaud them!! For too long, Abbot and Patrick have played dirty since day one.
The GOP is just out here showing their whole a$$es now, aren’t they? It’s terrifying that it’s gotten to the point where they do this isht out in the open and their base cheer them on, no matter what it is. At least the rest of us can see them for who they are now and don’t have to rely on decoding their hints and dogwhistles.
I wish that the Article X veto is being explained better than just the Senators and House Reps not being paid (they only receive $7,200 a year anyway). This means the entire Legislature…the legislative agencies, everyone from the janitorial services to the typists to the receptionists to the policy aids.
That bill was clearly about stealing votes-there’s no reason to cancel 24!hour voting or drive in voting. It’s not like they stop checking ids during those times and I know a few shift workers that it made voting easier.
Same with the county restrictions to have all polling stations the same size by county. E.g Harris is a huge county-so in rural parts it would make more sense to have 10 booths vs 300 in the denser part of the city. This law would make it so urban areas lose out.
They know that people from the liberal coastal states are moving to Texas and will outvote the “guns, god, and maga” rural population so that’s why they are scrambling to trash voting rights. I think they are still freaked out that Arizona and Georgia went blue.
I hope that Texas votes Beto in as governor. That state needs someone running it that actually cares about the people and isn’t kowtowing to Trump while his citizens are freezing to death.
@ Leah, as I like to call Abbot and Patrick as neanderthals, which they are! But I am so proud of our Democrat Senators for standing up to the Repugnant’s!!
Actually data is showing those moving to Texas from the so called liberal coastal states are actually voting Republicans. Texans ARE democrats. We were up until 1994 when Ann Richards lost to Bush. It has been a mess since.
That makes me so depressed. I’ve honestly given up on this state – I have no fight left in me anymore right now. I’m trying to figure out when and how I can sell my house with enough of a profit to move to a saner state, and where to move to. The only thing stopping me right now is family issues that mean I need to be close by for a while. I despise it here.
My husband grew up in Texas, so I’m obligated to visit sometimes. It sure seems like a GOP stronghold to me! But hope that’s changing and happy the Dems are fighting!
Honestly the influx of California voters are a wild card. They could be liberals and they could be conservatives, running from “socialism” and high taxes in CA. The ones I’ve met love to talk about guns and how bad Newsome is so I don’t feel wholly confident that the CA migrants are helping to tip the state.
They aren’t. Data shows those coming from the coast are voting Republicans.
A lot of the ones moving from CA to my home state of ID are doing so because they want to go live with other conservative buttheads. So yeah, I wouldn’t count on them turning the tide or anything.
This made me so damn happy. Abbott can go f@ck himself every second of every day.
I’m not a native Texan but I live here now and this is what I want to see from the people I vote for. Although I hardly ever get the chance to vote for state-level representation I want because I live in such a gerrymandered district. But the GOP has made it absolutely clear that they are champions of white supremacy and are working to get rid of democracy. When that’s the case, it does no good to play along with them and vote as usual. It’s time for activist tactics like this walkout.
I would love to see Texas flip in my lifetime. If Beto runs for governor I will help him from Arizona.
@ Ann, actually the latest presidential election stats show that Texas is 52.06% Repugnant’s and 46.48% Democrat, with a growth for Dems of 3.24%, and a slight decrease for Repugnant’s. So there is hope after all!!
I grew up in a Blue state. Texas flipped in 1994 and the Republicans have been making sure they hold the state. Now I am back and I plan to work hard as long as I am here to bring the old Texas back
I don’t care if Beto runs himself or not, everyone needs to support him and his organization which has been modeled on Stacey Abrams’ efforts in Georgia. Almost as many people voted for Biden in Texas than ALL THE VOTERS IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Think about that. We can tip the state into purple-land, but we need resources – people and money. Demographics are on the Democrats’ side that’s why the Republicans are desperately trying to entrench power and lie to Texans about why.
The first Gen Z voters will be casting ballots in 2022 and they’re going to remember how Republicans have messed up Covid, the snowpacalypse, and gun control. We need to use this time before the special session to spread the word about why this is voter suppression. Retweet/ repost whatever you can and raise awareness please.
@ sassafras, I will certainly help Beto out again, as I did the last election!! I will also help out any Democrat Senator, Governor and even dog catcher!! There was a big mail out of get-out-to-vote in run up to the 2020 election that I partook in and I would do that in a heartbeat again!! Unfortunately, I can’t have signs in my front yard as everyone knows where we live and my husband is the retina physician here in Bryan. His patients would verbally abuse him and my daughter in the run up to all of the senate and presidential elections, so I had to take my signs down. I live in a city that has the most disgusting and disturbed people that I have ever come across!! They threatened my husband, and my daughter, and I was fearful of their safety!! It’s a horrible city to live in, so I must remain silent in my political position.
Oya we texan progressives ate grateful for people like urself lending your voice. There really are so.many good and progressive texans. I cant wait til we can get rid of abbott😍