It's About Suppression, Con't

So it turns out late last night Democrats in the Texas state House were able to stop the Texas Senate GOP's voter suppression and election rigging bill by walking out of the final night of the yearly session, denying the GOP the quorum they needed to proceed with the bill, but that's only a temporary delay.

Texas Republicans' push to enact a slew of new voting restrictions was stymied -- at least for now -- by Democrats who walked off the state House floor late Sunday night, leaving majority Republicans without the quorum they needed to approve the bill in the final hours before a midnight deadline. 

Their move effectively killed Senate Bill 7 for this year's legislative session. But it could soon be revived: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Sunday night that he is adding "election integrity" to a list of topics lawmakers will address in a special session he plans to call. 

"Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session," Abbott said. 

Democrats left the chamber at about 10:45 p.m., CT, leaving Republican Speaker Dade Phelan to concede that the House did not have the 100 members necessary for a quorum and to adjourn the House for the night. 

Republicans in Texas had sought to join Florida, Georgia and other GOP-controlled states that have seized on former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election and adopted new restrictions that will make it harder for some of their residents to vote. 

It's not yet clear when Abbott will call the special session. It's also not clear whether Republicans will enter the special session set on approving SB 7 as it's currently drafted or will seek to make further changes.

 

Frankly, Texas Republicans could easily make the bill even worse, and almost certainly will in order to further punish Democrats. Abbott has months in which to call the session, and Texas Republicans will almost certainly be afforded the time to make the bill as nasty as possible.

 

Dems won the battle here, and they are to be commended. But the war is almost certainly lost.