WASHINGTON — A group of Texas House Democrats checked out of their hotel in Washington, D.C., Friday after the U.S. Senate was unable to make progress this week on federal voting legislation before its scheduled August recess.
“I think everyone right now is just going on to the next step,” state Rep. Ina Minjarez of San Antonio said. “We’ve been here for a little over a month, the Senate has taken a recess, so we feel that we’ve done what we can here in D.C. I can’t disclose where all of us will be going, but I think right now, there’s no intention to make quorum (in Austin).”
The group, including state Reps. Minjarez, Mando Martinez of Weslaco, Gina Hinojosa of Austin, Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio and others, was seen wheeling their luggage out of the hotel they’ve been staying at since July 12, when they arrived in Washington.
On Monday, state Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas said that more than 20 members remained in Washington. It’s unclear how many of those members are still in Washington, and how many checked out Friday.
Back in Austin, there were again not enough members present for a quorum to allow the House to conduct business. The chamber was set to reconvene at 10 a.m. Saturday.
GOP state Rep. Shelby Slawson of Stephenville gave the prayer on the House floor Friday, expressing her frustration for yet another day lost by the Democrats’ quorum break.
“I confess to you, Lord, that I’ve spent a lot of the last month, wondering what are we doing,” Slawson said, adding that she hopes some lesson is learned from the current divisive atmosphere. “You’ve shown us time and time again that from the messes of the world comes your message.”
Meanwhile, the House sergeant-at-arms and law enforcement are showing up at members’ houses. On Tuesday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan signed civil arrest warrants for 52 absent Democrats.
A neighbor alerted Democratic Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin on Thursday that law enforcement officers were outside her Austin home, the lawmaker said. They left behind the warrant for her arrest signed by Phelan, Goodwin said.
“I am not at home and I am not going to return there until I feel like I can safely,” she said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Texas Supreme Court granted a stay of House Democrats’ attempt to avoid arrest. The stay would allow Texas law enforcement to arrest missing House Democrats, he tweeted.
The Texas Democrats in Washington had previously said they will stay as long as it takes for Congress to make progress on voting rights legislation. But early Wednesday morning, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blocked the U.S. Senate from considering the For the People Act, a federal voting rights bill the Texas House Democrats in Washington have been pushing for a month.
“This bill would constitute a federal government takeover of elections,” Cruz said on the Senate floor.
Now the Senate is in recess, set to return Sept. 13.
State Rep. Donna Howard said the remaining holdout Democrats will make a decision together about when to return to the House. “We know that we will be coming back. That is guaranteed,” said Howard, an Austin Democrat. “I just don’t know what the exact timing is at this point.”
She said the caucus accomplished a job they set out to do: pause the election legislation, engage Congress on passing federal voting rights acts and raise public awareness.
In July, more than 50 members of the House Democratic Caucus denied the GOP-majority Texas Legislature the quorum it needed in the House to conduct legislative business and flew to Washington to lobby Congress to pass federal voting protections.
The Democrats said two GOP-backed voting bills under consideration, Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3, will suppress the votes of Texans if enacted, and broke quorum to block them. As of Friday, the House has still been unable to reach a quorum.
“We’re a very strong caucus, we are in constant contact with one another,” Minjarez said. “We continue to have a unified message, we continue to talk to the media, and just be completely honest with the public as to why we don’t believe a quorum should be made.”
Now in its second special session, the Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott are exploring different ways to get the Democrats to return to Austin.
Minjarez said it’s not just about the elections bills anymore.
“No. 1, it was the elections bill, but looking at the call itself, all of the items, the majority of them are red-meat issues,” Minjarez said, referring to controversial issues, such as transgender sports and abortion, that Abbott has included on the session’s agenda. “Collectively, we’ve made a pledge to stay together and we’ll continue doing so.”
On Thursday, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, along with the Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign, hand-delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urging Congress to act and pass voting rights legislation.
“We hand-delivered these letters because that’s just how important this issue is,” Crockett said in a statement. “We are willing to put in the work to get federal voting rights for our constituents. We did what we said we would and now we’re passing the baton to Congress.”
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(Austin correspondents Allie Morris and Morgan O’Hanlon contributed to this report.)
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