Texas Democrat Lawmakers Flee State to Block Passage of Republican Voting Bill
“A large group of Democratic members of the state House of Representatives arrived at Dulles International Airport Monday evening after fleeing the state in a pair of charter jets.”
Texas Republicans are trying to pass a measure to make it easier for people to vote and harder for anyone to cheat. Democrat lawmakers have decided to fight it by leaving the state and heading to Washington, DC.
You may recall Democrats using this same tactic in Wisconsin under Governor Scott Walker back in 2011.
The media is doing its part, describing Republican efforts as “voting restrictions.”
Jane C. Timm writes at NBC News:
Texas Democrats flee state in effort to block GOP-backed voting restrictions
In an extraordinary effort to block Republicans from enacting new voting restrictions, Texas Democrats bolted — again.
A large group of Democratic members of the state House of Representatives arrived at Dulles International Airport Monday evening after fleeing the state in a pair of charter jets. At least 51 members were on the flights, a source familiar with the plans told NBC News. At least seven others were en route, as well.
The unusual move, akin to what Democrats did in 2003, will paralyze the chamber, stopping business until the lawmakers return to town or the session ends.
The lawmakers plan to spend more than three weeks in Washington, D.C., running out the clock on the session, which began Thursday, and advocating for federal voting legislation.
Democrats are already fundraising off this stunt. Beto O’Rourke is pushing the effort on Twitter:
Donate now as Texas Democrats take off to Washington, DC! https://t.co/2A08e6Tn0q pic.twitter.com/Qho8x5YiRI
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) July 12, 2021
Democrats are also milking the situation for photo-ops:
ON PLANE TO DC: Texas Democratic lawmakers are leaving state to break quorum to stop Republican voting bill. Veteran Capitol observers say this is unchartered territory. Photo from Democrat on the plane. https://t.co/YOuOMb0A2m pic.twitter.com/abWoARvFIC
— ScottGordonNBC5 (@ScottGordonNBC5) July 12, 2021
Take a look at the sickening way Jen Psaki framed this issue:
.@PressSec says the "onslaught of voter suppression laws" in red states are "the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War." pic.twitter.com/k1wzq3GWjv
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 12, 2021
Some people are asking, isn’t this a form of the filibuster?
Sure is fun watching the different reactions from "Abolish the filibuster" media for the past 2 months. https://t.co/I1K0jzAyMm
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 12, 2021
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a reporter at KVUE News that these representatives will be arrested when they return to Texas:
Does this mean there’s now no way for Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3, the election and voting reform bills, to be passed during this special session? And is there anything you as governor can do to get the Democrats back to Texas?
“Sure. Let me answer those questions in sequence first. There still remains plenty of time to pass not just the bills that you mentioned, but there’s a lot of other bills on there that I know for a fact that your viewers right now, they care a whole lot about, such as property taxes. Property taxes are sky high in the Austin area and we have a bill to reduce those property taxes. I know that your viewers care a whole lot about the children who are going through foster care. We have additional funding to provide for foster care as well as for our retired teachers. And as you know, we need more law enforcement to keep our streets safe. We have funding for law enforcement in high-crime areas such as the Austin area. All of those issues are important not just to your viewers but, for a fact, they’re important to constituents of Rep. [Vikki] Goodwin, Rep. [James] Talarico, Rep. Weiner. And so if they do not return to work, they are risking losing their jobs as state representatives for not showing up.
“Answering your second question, yes, there is something the governor can do. First of all, I’ll tell you what the House of Representatives can do. What the speaker can do is issue a call to have these members arrested. In addition to that, however, I can and I will continue to call a special session after special session after special session all the way up until election next year. And so if these people want to be hanging out wherever they’re hanging out on this taxpayer-paid junket, they’re going to have to be prepared to do it for well over a year. As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done. Everybody who has a job must show up to do that job, just like your viewers on watching right now. State representatives have that same responsibility.”
Katrina Trinko of the Daily Signal makes an excellent point about this. Democrats have spent the last four years shrieking about the importance of “our democracy.” How exactly is this democracy?
Leftists’ Applause for Texas Democrats’ Flight Shows Hypocrisy on Democracy
If democracy dies, does any leftist care?
You’d think so: After all, we’ve had years of hand-wringing about the erosion of democracy in our nation, from The Washington Post’s “Democracy dies in darkness” motto to The New Yorker magazine fretting in a headline that “American Democracy Isn’t Dead Yet, but It’s Getting There.” No doubt, you’d think, the last thing liberals would want to see is state legislators thwarting the will of the people.
But you’d be wrong.
Instead of being eviscerated, the dozens of Texas Democrats fleeing the Lone Star State to prevent a vote in the state Legislature on proposed election reforms are being hailed as heroes.
Trinko is right. Even Kamala Harris is cheering them on:
VP Kamala Harris shouts out Texas Democrats who walked out to prevent passage of a restrictive GOP voting bill:
“I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered.” pic.twitter.com/qCNEXi3l3O
— The Recount (@therecount) July 12, 2021
This approach didn’t work out too well for Democrats in the 2010 midterms. Here’s hoping they pay a similar price in 2022.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
I do love to see Marxists on the run. Make it permanent.
Perhaps a never ending series of Special Sessions would do that.
Today’s Babylon Bee:
“Other States Look To Texas For Advice On How To Get Democrats To Leave”
Why aren’t they wearing their beloved face diapers on the plane? Aren’t they supposed to be kicked off and put on a no fly list for that egregious transgression?
It’s a charter flight, so masks are not required.
Actually, masks ARE required on charter flights, as per the CDC mandate issued on Feb 2, 2021.
So they are in violation of the mandate, and should be dealt with as such.
The GOP in Oregon does the same thing (flees to avoid a bill moving forward).
The right is being a little disingenuous in the outrage and accusations of cowardice. It’s what a minority party does to block a bill.
And the heroes welcome for the Dems? And this is not a filibuster?
The Dems have a mortal fear of honest elections. This is not cowardice in my opinion. It is abusing the system to force their will on Texas. I find these Democrats personally disgusting because their unethical behavior and unethical objectives tell me who they are as people. It is what an unethical minority party does to block a bill that reduces the Democrat election corruption.
This is what a minority party does to block a bill they cannot defeat via the normal legislative process. When they know they cannot convince the other side the minority’s position is the right one. When they believe they won’t face any penalty at the ballot box for abandoning their posts.
Doesn’t really matter which party does it, it’s an admission that they are unable to change the other side’s mind and that they’d rather get publicity for running away than stay and serve their constituents.
I wonder it the Texas Rangers can arrest them in D.C. and extradite them back to Texas? Maybe list them as interstate fugitives?
I’m quite ok with the theatre. In this case the Dems are serving their constituents. I rooted for the Oregon GOP when they did it.
These are the little checks and balances that keep a majority from mowing down a minority. The tension in a free democracy is a good thing. The fact that that Texas is paying attention to stolen elections shows that Dems will lose there in the end, with or without the theatrics and hysterics to protect their cheating.
Unlike in Wa where we have one party rule… they haven’t needed to full on steal an election since 2004. Voters here are stupid… and God has rewarded them with Antifa/BLM rioters, homeless pooping zombies, and now an income tax. It’s a akin to a ring of hell where your primary entertainment is reading that the people responsible are being tormented by pooping zombies that throw rocks onto their cars from freeway overpasses. Yeah- that’s a thing in Seattle right now.
The best of all Democrat “runners” was the Wisconsin Dems fleeing the state over the R governor’s elimination of mandatory union dues to the teacher union.
Teachers, CRT is the last straw.
Sounds like there needs to be a “You left on purpose so the quorum is reduced” provision.
It looks like the plane was loaded with very dumb people 🙂
I thought they were contestants on their way to a beauty contest.
I am old enough to remember when the filibuster was “a relic of Jim Crow”. Our self-anointed moral and intellectual betters told us so.
I also remember when wearing masks in public was a Sacred and Holy Obligation. Maybe it is now officially racist. Who knows what the Settled Science (TM) will be on any given day anymore?
Well, not to worry. The next time the Communists want to ram some wacky bill through Congress and lack the votes, the filibuster will go back to being evil. Oceana has always been at war with Easta-, ahem, Eurasia.
Is there anyway to prevent them from ever returning to Texas ?
Nobody else wants them.
Too bad TSA doesnt check for warrants
for domestic flights.
Keep rolling with the special sessions; eventually they will come home. The longer they are out of state, the more opportunity to show the public who they really are.
“You may recall Democrats using this same tactic in Wisconsin under Governor Scott Walker back in 2011.”
New masthead, Bezos: Democracy Dies Fleeing Out of State
Filibuster is exactly the correct word. It means piracy.
The senate filibuster is called that because it’s an act of piracy, a speaker literally holding the senate up for his own purposes. Nowadays it’s no longer considered illegitimate (except by majorities whose agendas it frustrates), because it’s been the rule for so long, and the senate has had plenty of opportunities to abolish it and has deliberately chosen not to. But its name comes from the early days, when it was illegitimate, the result of some unscrupulous senators having discovered an accidental loophole in the senate rules.
Personally I don’t care if the Texas politicians flee the state to prevent a quorum. Whether they realize it or not, they seriously messed up the “filibuster = Jim Crow” Narrative the Biden* regime has been pushing for months. The Joseph Goebbels media is capable of whiplash-inducing sudden changes in the Official Narrative (“Defund the Police” is now a sinister RethugiKKKan plot), but I flatly don’t see how they can keep both “filibuster is evil” and “filibuster is good” going simultaneously.
I believe that at some point the fleeing Texas politicians will wear out their welcome with the media.
I flatly don’t see how they can keep both “filibuster is evil” and “filibuster is good” going simultaneously.
It’s simply an application of their general rule: the end justifies the means.
They can keep it going because they always do this. Voter ID is racist! Nope, we have always supported Voter ID. “Abolish the police!” No, wait, we just meant “Defund the Police!” Nope, wait, it’s Republicans who want to defund the police. We support the Cuban people! Just don’t expect to get more than lip service and definitely expect to have legit amnesty claims rejected. CRT is not being taught in schools! We are building a national network of activists and unions to ensure that CRT is taught in schools. There is no such thing as voter fraud or stolen elections! But yes, Stacey Abrams is the “real governor of Georgia” because she had that election stolen. Oh, and Hillary was also a victim of a stolen election. But NO other elections were stolen.
(CorkyAgain, actually responding to the part you quoted, not to your point, which is accurate. :P)
who is footing the bill for buses, planes, food and lodging for this mini vacation? Too bad they didn’t head down to Mexico and spend their time helping out if they didn’t want to be in Texas.
They loaded up a plane with beer and fled the state
Sort of like Thelma and Louise, but with beer.
Maybe the beer could make the final scene come faster.
The vile Dhimmi-crats are always predictably infantile, obnoxious, narcissistic and totalitarian. This stunt is consistent with the Dhimmi-crats’ ethos.