‘We got your back,’ Texas state senators tell House colleagues in Washington DC meeting
Nine Texas Senate Democrats joined their House colleagues’ efforts Wednesday to prevent the state Legislature from passing election legislation and to lobby Congress to take action on voting rights.
State representatives left the state earlier this week to prevent the House from reaching a quorum, leaving the body without enough members to consider any legislation.
“We are proud and honored, the nine senate Democrats who are here, to join our colleagues in the House,” said Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat and chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus said at a Wednesday press conference. “We stand with you 100% in solidarity. In other words we got your back.”
The bill would ban overnight voting, ban drive-thru voting, and give partisan poll watchers more access to voting sites. Harris County added drive-thru and 24-hour voting for the 2020 general election amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 1, its omnibus voting bill. Republicans defended the legislation during a news conference Wednesday.
They displayed placards with news articles about the Democrats’ trip to Washington and instances of indictments related to voter fraud.
“How much fraud is OK? None,” bill author Sen. Brian Hughes, R-Mineola, said. “How much suppression is OK? None. That’s why Senate Bill 1 makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
The Senate’s legislation is stalled as it can’t be accepted in the House without a quorum.
“So the work we’re doing for the people of Texas is being wasted and squandered by people being out of this state who have chosen to break quorum,” said Sen. Larry Taylor, a Friendswood Republican and chair of the Texas Senate Republican Caucus.
Alvarado criticized the bill, saying it would disproportionately affect primarily Democratic groups.
“It looks like when certain people start to make progress and start to participate, the rules change. Which is what we’re seeing in 2021,” Alvarado said.
“When you see more young people, when you see counties coming up with creative ways to vote, 24-hour voting, drive-thru voting, more people of color voting, more women of color; oh wait, we’re going to change the laws.”
After flying to Washington the Texas Democrats met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Vice President Kamala Harris to try to lobby Congress for a federal voting rights bill.
The Democrats’ trip is being paid for by donations and out of their own pockets, not by taxpayer money, Texas House Democratic Caucus chair Chris Turner, D-Fort Worth, said.
State government reporter Eleanor Dearmen contributed to this report.