With new court losses and attention turning toward Texas' surging Covid-19 caseloads, pressure is mounting on state Democrats who lack the numbers to permanently stop a bill from passing.
AUSTIN, Texas — Thirty days after Democrats left Texas to stop new voting restrictions, cracks in the standoff widened Tuesday as more began returning home from Washington, D.C., and Republicans again authorized using law enforcement to find those who still refuse to come back.
How soon or even whether law enforcement would seek out Democrats was not immediately clear. But the move and other setbacks for Democrats put the protest over a GOP elections overhaul on unsteady ground a month after more than 50 of them bolted to Washington, D.C., in a dramatic show of unity to make Texas the front lines of a new national battle over voting rights.
“We had many heated debates in Washington as we debated our own next steps,” said state Rep. James Talarico, one of a handful of Democrats who returned to the Texas Capitol this week. “I’m going to keep those arguments in private. But I know emotions are rightfully running high everywhere, and it’s been a difficult month.”
"You threw us under the bus today! Why?” Dallas Democratic state Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos said in a tweet that included a picture of Talarico and other Democrats on the floor of the Texas House.
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