Texas Democrats, many of whom shirked their duties by fleeing the Lone Star State in protest of measures to enhance election safeguards, released a statement on Tuesday, celebrating the support they have received from the Biden White House.
Texas Democrats fled the state on Monday, attempting to deny Republicans a quorum to pass voter integrity legislation, which the state Senate passed this week 18-4.
State Rep. James Talarico (D), one of the “fleebaggers,” said on Monday that he and his colleagues are prepared to stay out of Texas for the rest of the session to kill the effort:
We’re prepared to stay out of Texas for the rest of the session.
This decision wasn’t easy. Many of my colleagues left kids, elderly parents, & sick loved ones. Many are risking their day jobs & their seats in the House.
But we won’t sit by & watch democracy wither on the vine.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) July 13, 2021
The left has since lavished the Democrats with praise, deeming them “courageous.” Vice President Kamala Harris went as far as likening them to those who fought and died for the right to vote.
“I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered,” Harris said during a Monday appearance at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan.
“I will say that they are leaders who are marching in the path that so many others before did when they fought and many died for our right to vote,” she claimed.
Texas Democrats are celebrating the support they have received from the White House — particularly President Joe Biden’s call for Congress to pass the For the People Act, which would nationalize U.S. elections and strip states of their ability to implement basic election safeguards that Democrats falsely describe as suppressive.
Texas Democrats said in part:
Earlier this afternoon, President Biden gave a national address calling for further protections for voting rights — and revived calls for Congress to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Yesterday, Texas Democratic lawmakers made history by leaving the state in order to block Republicans’ latest attacks on voting rights. After Democrats blocked an earlier Republican attack this spring, failed and flailing Gov. Greg Abbott called legislators back to the Capitol for an irregular extra legislative session, with the specific goal of giving Republicans a second shot at passing the hateful anti-voter legislation.
Amid these escalating attacks, Texas Democrats have continued to stand our ground — bolstered by support from our nation’s highest office. Urging Congress to restore voting rights protections, President Biden quoted the late Congressman John Lewis, saying, “Freedom is not a state, it’s an act.” Vice President Harris thanked Texas Democratic lawmakers for their leadership, saying, “You acted in a way that is encouraging other people to take action. You are igniting something that is so important.”
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa also expressed gratitude for the “incredible leadership President Biden is showing through his urgent advocacy for voting rights.”
“Texas Democrats are refusing to back down in the fight for voting rights, and our President and Vice President are stepping forward to fight just as hard alongside us,” he said, calling on every Democrat in Congress to “rise to the occasion, fight for our communities, and do what has to be done to protect our right to vote.”
“Our democracy is in jeopardy. Our future is on the line,” he warned, demanding Congress to act.
The Democrat-led House passed the For the People Act this year, which 20 attorneys general described as unconstitutional legislation.
As Breitbart News reported:
Hours prior to its passage, 20 attorneys general, led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R), sent a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). H.R. 1 “betrays several Constitutional deficiencies and alarming mandates that, if passed, would federalize state elections and impose burdensome costs and regulations on state and local officials,” they wrote, detailing the Elections Clause of Article I of the Constitution and the Electors Clause of Article II, which gives states the primary role in conducting federal elections for House and Senate, and an even bigger role in presidential elections.
“The Act would invert that constitutional structure, commandeer state resources, confuse and muddle elections procedures, and erode faith in our elections and systems of governance,” the attorneys general wrote, asking lawmakers to consider the measure’s many “vulnerabilities.”
H.R. 1, they continued, “implicates the Electors Clause” by regulating the elections for president and vice president. The state leaders also highlighted the “severe constitutional hurdles” the measure faces due to its “regulation of congressional elections, including by mandating mail-in voting, requiring states to accept late ballots, overriding state voter identification (“ID”) laws, and mandating that states conduct redistricting through unelected commissions.”
Signers, which included the attornies general from Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia, promised to “seek legal remedies to protect the Constitution, the sovereignty of all states, our elections, and the rights of our citizens” if the bill becomes law.
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