AUSTIN, Texas — Taking an admittedly bold step, Democrats in the Texas House left the state Monday afternoon to break quorum and derail GOP plans to pass sweeping changes to election and voting laws during the special session of the Legislature.
The Democrats chartered two flights from Austin to Washington, D.C., with the House Democratic Caucus picking up the tab of around $100,000, sources said.
"Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote," Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
In addition to drawing national attention to the voting fight in Texas, the Democrats said they hoped to pressure Congress to pass federal legislation "to protect Texans — and all Americans — from the Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy."
"We are living on borrowed time in Texas," said the statement from Democratic state Reps. Chris Turner, Rafael Anchía, Nicole Collier, Garnet Coleman and Senfronia Thompson.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who called lawmakers back to Austin for a special session heavy with conservative priorities in addition to the voting law changes, said the Democratic move "inflicts harm on the very Texans who elected them to serve."
"As they fly across the country on cushy private planes, they leave undone issues that can help their districts and our state," Abbott said, pointing to noncontroversial special session topics such as property tax relief, an extra payment to retired teachers and money for children in foster care.
"The Democrats must put aside partisan political games and get back to the job they were elected to do," Abbott said.
House rules allow absent legislators to be arrested by the sergeant-at-arms "or an officer appointed by the sergeant-at-arms" and returned to the House floor, which is why quorum-busting representatives head out of state, where Texas law enforcement lacks jurisdiction.
An order to arrest House members must be voted on by a majority of lawmakers present after the lack of a quorum is established.
The Texas House was not scheduled to meet until 10 a.m. Tuesday, allowing the Democrats to leave Texas on Monday without fear of reprisal.
But House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said he planned to use "every available resource under the Texas Constitution and the unanimously passed House Rules to secure a quorum."
"I expect all members to be present in our Capitol in order to immediately get to work," he said.
In the closing hours of the Texas Legislature's regular session that ended May 31, Democrats killed a sweeping GOP-led elections bill, Senate Bill 7, by walking off the floor in the middle of debate, breaking quorum and forcing the House to adjourn.
The unusual move not only blocked passage of the elections bill, it also meant the demise of legislation to change the state's bail system — bringing the hammer down on two legislative priorities of Abbott, who quickly vowed to bring lawmakers back to handle both items in a special session.
Another walkout would endanger a host of conservative Republican priorities that Abbott added to the agenda of the 30-day special session that began Thursday, including border security, transgender student athletes, critical race theory, abortion regulations and complaints that social media companies are censoring conservatives.
Leaving the state also would endanger funding for the Legislature and associated agencies — not to mention pay and benefits for several thousand employees — that Abbott vetoed in retaliation for the House Democrats' walkout at the close of the regular session.
Abbott's special session agenda allowed lawmakers to restore the funding before the next budget begins Sept. 1, and Republicans hoped the opportunity would keep Democrats from fleeing.
Phelan criticized Democrats for hurting employees of the Legislature and associated agencies.
"These actions put at risk state funding that will deny thousands of hard-working staff members and their families a paycheck, health benefits and retirement investment so that legislators who broke quorum can flee to Washington, D.C. in private jets," Phelan said.
But Democrats remained committed to killing two wide-ranging GOP elections bills — both of which were passed by House and Senate committees Sunday after marathon public hearings. Senate Republicans were planning to bring SB 1, their version of the voting bill, up for a floor vote Tuesday.
SB 1 and a similar measure, House Bill 3, would ban 24-hour and late-night voting, prohibit drive-thru voting, add an identification requirement to mail-in ballots, protect partisan poll watchers' ability to move freely in polling places, and create new or stiffer penalties for voter fraud, among other provisions.
Republicans insist the changes are needed to bolster eroded confidence in election results, particularly by limiting opportunities for voter fraud.
Democrats argue that the limits would unnecessarily suppress the vote in deference to the "big lie" that widespread voter fraud denied Donald Trump a second term in the White House. Lawmakers should act to make it easier, not harder, to cast a ballot, they said.
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the Texas Democrats during a voting rights roundtable in Detroit, saying the lawmakers "are showing extraordinary courage and commitment."
"I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered," she said. "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."
Harris had met with a handful of Texas Democratic leaders in June, when members few to Washington to capitalize on momentum from their walkout during the regular session.
The Texas Senate had a quorum present for its brief meeting Monday morning when three Democrats — state Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen, John Whitmire of Houston and Judith Zaffirini if Laredo — joined 18 Republicans to reach the required 21 senators present.
Senate Democrats' plans are as-yet unclear.
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