- Texas Democrats fled their state on private jets in order to prevent a series of new, restrictive voting laws from becoming law
- At least 58 Democratic members of the state House of Representatives left Austin to fly to Washington D.C. on two private jets that cost $100,000 to charter
- Departure means Texas House doesn’t have quorum of two-thirds of lawmakers present and can’t hold votes
- Democrats expect law enforcement, possibly the Texas rangers, to track them down and get them to return
- Jen Psaki said some White House officials may meet the Texas Democrats in D.C. and called new voting laws ‘the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War’
- Kamala Harris said in Detroit on Monday that ‘fighting for the right to vote is as American as apple pie’
Texas Democrats fled their state on private jets Monday in order to stop Republicans in the state from passing their voting rights bills through the state legislature.
‘Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote,’ the Texas state House Democratic caucus said in a statement.
At least 58 Democratic lawmakers left Austin to fly to Washington D.C. on two private jets chartered for the occasion and will use the time in the nation’s Capitol to rally support for federal voting legislation.
The Democrats’ departure paralyzed the Texas state house as the legislature requires a quorum of two-thirds of lawmakers be present to conduct business. It’s also akin to a move Democrats used in 2003 when they fled to neighboring Oklahoma to block Republicans’ plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
The Democrats risk arrest and expect state Republicans to send law enforcement officials, possibly including the Texas rangers, after them.