Democratic Lawmakers Are Fleeing Texas to Stop GOP Crackdown on Voting

Texas state Representative Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, speaks alongside members of the democratic caucus last week. Photo: Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images

Democratic lawmakers in the Texas legislature left the state on Monday in a dramatic, last-ditch attempt to prevent Republicans from passing restrictive voting measures.

At least 58 Democratic lawmakers flew out of Austin on chartered flights to Washington, D.C., according to the Associated Press and NBC News. The move is meant to deny Republicans the necessary number of lawmakers present to hold a special session of the legislature convened last week by Governor Greg Abbott. Republicans want to pass a litany of bills tightening voting laws, banning the teaching of so-called critical race theory, restricting transgender athletes in public schools, and making it harder to obtain an abortion.

The Democrats are expected to use their time in D.C. to rally support for federal voting-rights legislation. They’ll have to remain away through the end of the special session, which could last up to 30 days. This is the second time Texas Dems used this strategy in protest of the bill, according to the Texas Tribune, which led Abbott to call the special session in the first place.

Democrats could be arrested by law-enforcement officers, but the threat is considered mostly hypothetical. In 2003, Democratic lawmakers fled over the state line to New Mexico to prevent a Republican session from passing a redistricting proposal that eventually wiped out several Democratic seats in Congress.

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