Democrats Flee Texas To Stall Vote On Voter Suppression Bill

Democratic lawmakers in Texas have once again fled their state in order to stall a vote on the Republican-led voter suppression bill in their state. This is the second time that the Democrats have pulled this maneuver, and they were quite successful the first time in stalling the legislation. Democrats in DC need to take a page out of this playbook and learn how to play hardball with Republicans. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Democratic lawmakers from the state of Texas have fled their state, headed to DC, all of them on a jet. They posted a selfie together. It was wonderful. But they're leaving the state of Texas in order to stall a vote on the voter suppression bill that the Texas state legislature is currently considering. And if this sounds familiar, it's because it is, they actually did this several months ago the first time that piece of legislation came before their chamber, they left the state so that Republicans could not have a quorum and they could not hold a vote. Texas governor Greg Abbott was furious that his piece of legislation did not get passed at the time. And he vowed, I'm going to call a special session, not right now, but soon I will call a special session. We will get this and many other of my priorities passed. And Democrats said, all right, you do that. We're just going to leave again. There's really not much you can do.

And technically though, the Republican controlled legislature can actually send out officers and have these individuals arrested unless they come back to the Capitol, they can actually have the police bring them back to the Capitol, but only if they remain in Texas, which is why they took off and headed to DC where they don't have any jurisdiction. You can't send your cops over here to DC to come drag us back to vote on your voter suppression bill. And just like last time I applaud these Democrats for doing what is right here. This piece of legislation that I'm, I'm still unfortunately convinced is eventually going to pass. However, it is going to disenfranchise countless voters in the state of Texas, typically the voters who aren't going to vote for Republicans, that, that's how this was designed, you know, lower income voters, elderly voters, voters of color. Those are the people who are going to be punished when and if this thing eventually passes and the Democrats understand that, and that's why they fled the state.

But here is what I want to say. They're heading to DC, right? Basically to get out of Texas, they're going to DC. I think any lawmaker, Democratic lawmaker, that's in DC right now. You need to go meet with these people. You need to go see what it looks like when a Democrat has a spine. You need to get their advice on how to fight back against these Republicans in Washington, DC, because clearly these people know how to do it. They know how to basically get things done, or in this case not get things done. They know how to play hard ball, something we have been waiting many, many years for the Democrats in Washington, DC, to start doing. These folks in Texas gave you the blueprint. These folks in Texas showed you that it's okay to stand up for yourself, for your constituents and for everybody else. So if you're a Democratic lawmaker in DC, please go meet with these individuals and get their advice because clearly they know how to handle Republicans better than you do.