Texas Democrats flee state to block voting restriction legislation

Texas Democrats fled the state Monday in a last-ditch effort to prevent the passage of a restrictive new voting law by the Republican-controlled Legislature, heading to Washington to draw national attention to their cause.

The group left Austin, Texas, in midafternoon on a pair of chartered flights that arrived at Dulles International Airport just before sunset. Fifty-one of the 67 state House Democrats flew on the planes, leaders of the delegation said, and several others arrived separately in Washington; that’s enough to prevent Texas Republicans from attaining a quorum, which is required to conduct state business.

The hastily arranged departure added a cinematic element to the partisan wrangling in a state with a colorful political history. Democrats have fled to neighboring states in the past to try to block legislation, including in 2003, when they traveled to New Mexico and Oklahoma in an effort to avoid Republican attempts to redraw congressional districts.

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The move could paralyze the Legislature for weeks if Democrats remain out of state until this special session ends in August. Still, it lays bare their limited options long term in a Legislature where the Republicans hold the majority in both chambers. Parliamentary procedures and efforts to add amendments can delay the process but not derail it. Republicans said Monday the Democrats’ gambit would ultimately fail.

State Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Houston-area Republican who chairs the House Elections Committee, said Democrats’ departure “slows things down” but would not prevent Republicans from prevailing.

“It’s just delaying the inevitable,” said State Representative Briscoe Cain, a Houston-area Republican who chairs the House Elections Committee. He described the move as “political theater.”

“We will eventually get it done, this special or another,” he added.

Nevertheless, by traveling en masse to Washington, the Texas Democrats were hoping to apply pressure to Democrats in the U.S. Senate who so far have been unable to pass federal legislation to address the issue.

On Monday night, members of the Texas delegation reiterated their resolve in a 15-minute news conference from an airport parking lot, which concluded with members singing the chorus of “We Shall Overcome.”

The group has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Capitol, but has no concrete plans in Washington beyond that.