XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican, alt.politics, alt.fan.sean-hannity   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: rtdsd@sacbee.com   
      
   Hunt them down and arrest them.  If they won't come back   
   voluntarily, shoot them and leave them to rot where they fall.   
      
   (CNN)Texas state House Democrats left the state Monday in an   
   effort to block Republicans from passing a restrictive new   
   voting law in the remaining 27 days of the special legislative   
   session called by Gov. Greg Abbott.   
      
   The majority of the Democrats fleeing Texas are flying to   
   Washington, DC, on two chartered jets, two sources familiar with   
   the Democrats' plans told CNN. They have kept planning secret   
   because they can be legally compelled to return to the state   
   Capitol and believed law enforcement could be sent to track them   
   down, the sources said.   
      
   The group is "hoping" to meet with US Senate Democrats while   
   they're in Washington, according to a source familiar with their   
   plans.   
   Their move places Texas at the heart of the national fight over   
   voting rights, with GOP state lawmakers turning former President   
   Donald Trump's lies about widespread voting fraud into a push   
   for new laws that limit mail-in voting, early voting and more.   
      
   Already this year, Republican-controlled states including   
   Florida, Georgia and Iowa have enacted restrictive new voting   
   laws.   
      
   Democrats in Congress have pushed measures that would expand   
   access to the ballot box nationwide -- but GOP opposition in the   
   Senate has kept them from clearing the 60-vote threshold   
   necessary to break a filibuster.   
      
   In Texas, minority House Democrats walked out of the final hours   
   of this year's legislative session, blocking Republicans from   
   approving Senate Bill 7 -- the controversial measure that would   
   have made casting mail-in ballots harder; banned drive-thru   
   voting centers and 24-hour voting -- tactics Harris County, the   
   home of Houston, used in the 2020 election; empowered poll   
   watchers, made it easier for courts to overturn election   
   results; effectively outlawed Black churches' "souls to the   
   polls" get out the vote push and more.   
      
   Abbott, the Republican governor who is seeking a third term in   
   2022, called a 30-day special legislative session, saying that   
   "election integrity" would be one of his priorities. Majority   
   Republicans in the House and Senate in recent days unveiled   
   bills that closely mirrored SB 7.   
      
   State House and Senate committees advanced those bills after   
   hearing opposition in hours-long hearings over the weekend.   
   The Democrats' move raises questions about their objectives --   
   whether they are seeking to block any new voting laws altogether   
   or push Republicans to strip their measures of what Democrats   
   see as the most objectionable elements -- and how Republicans   
   will try to force Democrats back into the House.   
      
   Republicans were critical of the Democrats' decision -- but did   
   not say what their next move would be.   
      
   State House Speaker Dade Phelan said in a statement that the   
   House will use "every available resource under the Texas   
   Constitution" to secure a quorum of two-thirds of the chamber's   
   members.   
      
   The governor, in a statement, said the "Texas Democrats'   
   decision to break a quorum of the Texas Legislature and abandon   
   the Texas State Capitol inflicts harm on the very Texans who   
   elected them to serve."   
      
   US Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said of the move: "It's   
   not very Texan. You stay and you fight -- you don't run away."   
   However, national Democratic figures backed the Texas House   
   members' move to break quorum and flee the state.   
      
   "I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all   
   Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered.   
   I will say that, that they are, they are leaders who are   
   marching in the path that so many others before this, when they   
   fought and many died for our right to vote," Vice President   
   Kamala Harris said in Michigan.   
      
   Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who came close to winning a Senate   
   seat in Texas in 2018 and is a potential 2022 gubernatorial   
   candidate, testified at a state legislative hearing on the GOP   
   bills over the weekend and raised money for Texas House   
   Democrats' effort on Monday.   
      
   "These Texas Democrats are the courage the country needs right   
   now," he said on Twitter. "They give us a fighting chance to   
   pass the For the People Act -- and save our democracy."   
      
   This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.   
   CNN's Jessica Dean and Manu Raju contributed to this report.   
      
   v(CNN)Texas state House Democrats left the state Monday in an   
   effort to block Republicans from passing a restrictive new   
   voting law in the remaining 27 days of the special legislative   
   session called by Gov. Greg Abbott.   
      
      
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