Arrest Warrant Issued for Texas Democrat Who Fled to D.C.

Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, strikes his gavel as he opens the spec
AP File Photo: Eric Gay

The Texas Speaker of the House of Representatives issued a warrant for the arrest of a Democrat member who fled to Washington, D.C. to avoid a special session. The San Antonio-area Democrat traveled to the nation’s capital with fellow legislators to break quorum and prevent the House from voting on legislation involving election reforms.

Speaker of the House Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) signed a civil arrest warrant on Monday for State Representative Philip Cortez (D-San Antonio) for his failure to return to the House of Representatives, the Texas Tribune reported. Cortez abandoned his fellow Democrats late last week when he unexpectedly returned to Texas. Cortez claimed he returned to Austin to attempt to engage in a “good faith dialogue” on the matter of House Bill 3, the election law reform bill.

After receiving harsh criticism from fellow Democrats for returning to Austin without consulting them, Cortez returned to Washington, D.C. The San Antonio Democrat currently serves as chairman of the House Urban Affairs Committee.

Speaker Phelan issued a statement saying, in part, that Cortez had “irrevocably broken my trust and the trust of the chamber.” The speaker added that Cortez “represented to me and his fellow members that he wanted to work on policy and find solutions to bring his colleagues back to Texas.”

Cortez sidestepped the speaker’s comments and the issue of the arrest warrant in his own statement on Monday. He said he owes “a duty to my constituents to do everything I can to stop this harmful legislation.” He did not say what is harmful in the legislation.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.