Private planes carrying a large group of Democrats took off from an airport in Austin, skipping town just days before the Texas House of Representatives was expected to give early approval to sweeping new voting restrictions in a special legislative session ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 67 Democrats in the Texas House left, but party leaders said it will be enough to bring the Legislature to a halt. The drastic move lays bare how Democrats are making America's biggest red state their last stand against the GOP's rush to enact new voting restrictions in response to former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. More than a dozen states this year have already passed tougher election laws -- but only in Texas have Democrats put up this kind of fight.
When Democrats fled the state two decades ago -- in a failed attempt to stop new GOP-drawn voting maps -- state troopers were deployed to bring them back. Over the weekend, Texas Republicans began advancing measures that also bring back provisions to ban drive-thru voting, add new voter ID requirements to absentee ballots and prohibit local elections officials from proactively sending mail-in ballot applications to voters. Abbott also gave lawmakers a lengthy to-do list this summer heavy on hot-button conservative issues, including restrictions over how race is taught in schools and banning transgender athletes from playing in girls' sports.
I can see TWITTER BOSSES sharpening their knives on my account BUT REPUBS ARE BIGGOTS by association to TRUMP