Texas Republicans Say Enough and Officially Vote to Arrest Fleeing Democrats

AP Photo/Eric Gay

Well, perhaps my skepticism was unwarranted?

Earlier this morning, I wrote on Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat to arrest the fleeing Texas Democrats who are refusing to show up for work. Those Democrats left the state in an ill-fated attempt to deny a quorum to Republicans, who make up a large majority of the state legislature, in order to stop a vote on an election integrity bill.

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When I saw Abbott’s comments, I wasn’t sure Republicans would actually have the guts to vote to force the Democrats to return and do their jobs. Yet, that’s exactly what happened.

The response to this is going to be predictable. You can expect the media to claim this is some kind of tyranny even though they trashed Oregon Republicans for their walk-out some years ago. Yet, the Texas constitution specifically denotes this as a remedy for members of the legislature who abdicate their duties. If this were attempted at the national level, it would be a different story and clearly illegal. But under Texas law, this is the way the system is set up to force a quorum that these Texas Democrats don’t have a right to deny.

Meanwhile, the cringe just won’t stop from the members that fled.

Yeah, I’m sure that kind of misspelled preening from Washington D.C. after having abandoned one’s official duties is going to go over really, really well in Texas.

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One of the most basic rules of life is to not pick a fight you can’t win. These Democrats are enjoying the plaudits right now, but praise from CNN hosts isn’t going to get them much of anything back home, and they will have to come home soon enough. When they do, they can either do their jobs or be arrested and forced to. Republicans in Texas have apparently run out of care to give about the optics of this.

No, they won’t overcome. They are hypocrites, using a filibuster to run to D.C. in order to stump for the elimination of the filibuster. Everyone sees the game being played here and how ridiculous it is. And when they return to Texas, the game will be over.

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