Texas Democratic lawmakers defied calls for their arrest on Tuesday, a day after fleeing their state to thwart efforts to pass voting restrictions, and said they would stay in Washington to push for federal voting reform.
Gloria Tso reports.
Democratic lawmakers from Texas defied calls for their arrest on Tuesday, a day after fleeing the state, vowing to stay in Washington to push for voting reform.
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the lawmakers, comparing their exodus to notable examples of voting rights activism in American history.
Outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Texas Representative Rafael Anchia accused the state's Republican Governor Greg Abbott of poisoning the electoral process.
"We said we are going to kill any undemocratic efforts in the state legislature and if that meant leaving the state, we were going to do it." Abbott vowed to arrest the 50 or so lawmakers who fled on Monday, after denying him the support needed to pass new voting limits in the state.
The remaining members of the Texas House of Representatives voted 76-4 Tuesday morning to find and arrest the missing lawmakers, under a House rule that authorizes the chamber's sergeant-at-arms to do so.
Abbott vowed to continue calling for special sessions "all the way up until election next year" to get the voting bill passed.
Texas is among several Republican states pursuing new voting restrictions in the name of improving election security.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday reiterated voting rights legislation as a "national imperative," but did not outline a path to overcome Republican opposition.
He spoke Friday morning to the Texas House Democrats who fled to Washington DC to stop an election bill in their state.
