Patrick unloads on ‘nest of liars’ attacking GOP’S state voting bill
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick accused Democrats of “race-baiting” as they fight election bills in the Texas Legislature and said some elected officials are lying about what the legislation would do.
“Senate Bill 7 is not voter suppression, it's voter security,” Patrick said during a more than 30minute news conference in which he repeatedly slammed the media, American Airlines, Democrats, including Beto O'rourke, as a “nest of liars” for saying the legislation seeks to disenfranchise people of color.
The back and forth on the Texas voting bill has escalated since last week as major Texas-based businesses including American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Dell have put out statements of concern about it. That resistance comes as businesses and sports leagues including Major League Baseball oppose voting legislation in Georgia pushed by Republicans that similarly has been called an attempt to suppress the vote, particularly in minority communities that vote overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats.
Patrick made clear during his fiery news conference that many of the items in the bill are directly related to Harris County officials and how they ran the 2020 elections. He repeatedly accused Harris County of making up rules and regulations during the election such as allowing 24-hour voting locations and drive-up polling precincts.
“Well, I have news for Harris County, you're not the capital of Texas,” Patrick said, stressing that voting legislation comes from the Texas Legislature, not local officials.
Patrick aimed his criticism at Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner who have labeled the leg
islation as a form of voter suppression.
“They’re lying to you,” Patrick said, looking into a bank of television cameras.
Patrick’s news conference came less than 24 hours after Hidalgo, Turner and other Harris County officials rallied in opposition to the legislation in Houston. At that event, Hidalgo said Republicans had “bought into a conspiracy theory” about widespread voter fraud, which has never been proven to exist.
Turner used similarly pointed rhetoric, labeling the voting bills “Jim Crow 2.0” and “part of a national campaign to restrict people’s right to vote.”
That brought an at times angry response from Patrick.
“We must stop this racebaiting on every issue,” Patrick said. “Election security is what the public wants.”
Under the Texas Senate’s election reform bill, 24hour voting and drive-thru voting would be banned. In addition, the state would ban county officials from mailing out absentee ballot applications to voters unless a voter has requested one.
Senate Bill 7 passed the Texas Senate last week and is headed to the Texas House, where it has yet to be heard. In addition, a similar election bill, House Bill 6, is already being considered in the House in a committee but has not yet been advanced to the House floor for a vote.
In order for a bill to become law, both chambers have to pass identical versions and get it approved by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Patrick denied any of those measures will reduce voter participation. He said under Senate Bill 7, early voting locations could be open until as late as 9 p.m. and the state is still allowing two weeks of early voting.
“People have plenty of time to vote,” Patrick said adding that Texas has more early voting days than Democat-dominated states such as New York and New Jersey.
Civil rights scrutiny
He did not mention provisions of the Texas legislation that would cut the number of polling places in the state’s largest counties, all of which are controlled by Democrats. Nor did he mention a provision that will allow partisan poll workers to video record any activity at the polls that they deem suspicious. Texas civil rights groups blasted the video-recording measure last week, saying it reeks of efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to intimidate Black and Latino voters.
On Thursday, Hidalgo pointed to the record turnout in 2020 in Harris County as evidence that the moves to make voting easier helped more people to vote.
On Tuesday, Patrick singled out American Airlines, slamming the company for trying to call him and warn him that their opposition wasn’t anything personal. He accused the airline’s leaders of not even reading the bill before coming out against it. The legislation was passed by the Texas Senate just after 2 a.m. Thursday. American Airlines voiced its objections the next day.
“What I care about is stopping professional sports teams and companies from getting involved in issues they know nothing about,” Patrick said.
He said Major League Baseball should be embarrassed for taking the Allstar Game out of Atlanta and awarding it to a less diverse city like Denver.
“You think that helps anybody who’s black or brown?” Patrick said. “This is what happens when the media doesn’t get the facts.”
Patrick’s reaction to the media only got more intense when he was asked if he was going to pay a million-dollar reward to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who pointed to three cases of election fraud in that state in the 2020 election. All of the cases were filed against Republicans.
Patrick last year offered up $1 million in reward money for those who uncovered voter fraud in the 2020 election. Since then, Fetterman has insisted his state deserves the money since it documented those three cases.
When asked about Fetterman’s claim on Tuesday, Patrick blasted the reporter who asked the question.
“Don’t ask me stupid questions,” Patrick said. “I didn’t come here to take stupid questions from the media.”