Texas Democrats end voting holdout
Three members return to House after 38-day protest of election overhaul
AUSTIN, Texas — A standoff in Texas over new voting restrictions that gridlocked the state Capitol for 38 days ended Thursday when some Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., dropped their holdout, paving the way for Republicans to resume pushing an elections overhaul.
It abruptly and messily drew to a close one of the few — and lengthiest — quorum breaks in modern Texas history. Instead of a unified and celebratory return by Democrats, some members lashed out at their colleagues over what they criticized as breaking ranks.
Many of the proposed changes to Texas voting that Democrats have railed against for months remain in a bill that already passed the state Senate. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could now sign the legislation in a few weeks, if not sooner.
Only three new Democrats showed up Thursday, and the vast majority of the more than 50 Democrats who fled in July continue to stay away from the Texas Capitol. Still, Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan said enough were there to achieve a quorum, which is normally 100 present legislators.
The holdout led to escalating threats that missing lawmakers could face arrest, but officers never appeared to do more than leave warrants at Democrats’ homes.
“It’s been a very long summer. Been through a lot. I appreciate you all being here,” Phelan said. “It’s time to get back to the business of the people of Texas.”
Not all Democrats joined in the holdout, and the newest to come back to the Texas House defended their decision, saying they had successfully pushed Congress on voting rights legislation. But other Democrats who remained absent did not hide their frustration.
“This is how Texas Democrats lose elections,” state Rep. Michelle Beckley tweeted.
Abbott, who is up for reelection in 2022, had also jammed the agenda of this latest 30-day special session — which ends Sept. 5 — with other hot-button issues including border security and how race is taught in public schools.
This week, Abbott tested positive for covid-19, although his office announced he did not have symptoms.
It leaves Democrats much in the same position as when the holdout started: unable to permanently stop the GOP-controlled Legislature from putting new limits and rules over how more that 16 million registered voters can cast a ballot. And federal voting rights protections that Texas Democrats lobbied for while in Washington still face long odds of getting around GOP opposition in Congress.
For months, Texas Republicans have tried to pass measures that would prohibit 24-hour polling sites, ban drivethrough voting and give partisan poll watchers more access.
One version of the bill that was just hours from reaching Abbott’s desk in May also would have banned Sunday morning early voting — when many Black churchgoers go to the polls — and made it easier for a judge to overturn an election. Democrats’ first walkout wound up permanently scuttled those two provisions, but Republicans have kept intact other contested measures.
Working fast, House Republicans scheduled a hearing on the elections bill for Saturday.
“People want to get to work. They’re relieved that after all this time that we’ve been held hostage in Austin that we can finally get down to business,” said state Rep. Jim Murphy, chairman of the House Republican Caucus.