The Guardian: Texas Democrats set example by facing down Republican voting rights assault

For nearly five months, Democrats in state legislatures across the country have been scraping to do everything they can to stop an unprecedented onslaught of new voting restrictions from Republicans.

They have given searing speeches on the floors of state legislatures. They have supported protests and even gotten arrested demonstrating against the bills. They have filed lawsuits challenging new restrictions almost immediately after they were signed into law. But despite their efforts, Democrats have not been able to stop sweeping new voting restrictions from going into place in states such as Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Iowa and Montana, where Republicans have used their legislative majorities to ram through the bills.

But late on Sunday night something different happened in Texas.

With Republicans on the verge of passing one of the most restrictive new voting laws in the country, Democrats in the state house of representatives walked out of the legislature, denying Republicans a quorum and killing the legislation. Governor Greg Abbott has fumed over the development and has pledged to call a special session to pass the bill.

Even if the victory is short-lived, the walkout still marked a significant moment for Democrats. It was their most muscular effort to date to stop Republican efforts to make it harder to vote. Those hardball efforts come at a particularly crucial time for Democrats as they face pressure to modify the rules of the US Senate so they can pass a sweeping voting rights bill. Some top Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refuse to back those changes, leading to increasing worry that Democrats are abdicating their responsibility to protect American democracy when Republicans are going to unprecedented lengths to undermine it.

“I hope it sends a really strong message to Democrats in Congress, especially in the Senate, that these fights are especially important. Democracy is literally at risk and you have to do absolutely everything you possibly can do,” said Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of the Texas chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “This wasn’t Democrats shutting down the rules. This was them using every single thing to their advantage, taking a stand to protect voting rights.”