AUSTIN, Texas — As Texas Democrats remain camped out in the nation’s capital, the Republican legislation they’re fighting is stuck in neutral in the state House.
The battle over early voting restrictions that would prevent 24-hour voting and drive-thru ballots started last spring during the regular legislative session.
Republicans say they’re needed to protect the integrity of elections, while Democrats argue the GOP wants to suppress voters to keep Texas red.
Editor's note: The video above originally aired on Wednesday, July 15.
On May 30, the last day of the session, Democrats staged a walkout to block the vote on the GOP bill.
Governor Greg Abbott called a special session for a revamped voting restrictions bill, along with bail reform and nine other Republican priorities.
It began on July 7, and it was mostly business as usual until it was time to debate the voting bills again.
Special Session Timeline
July 10: Overnight hearings
The second round of the Texas voting bill fight heated up early Saturday, July 10, as Republicans worked to rapidly push through the bills in overnight hearings.
A Texas House committee voted Sunday morning to advance the House Bill 3 and a Texas Senate committee did the same that afternoon with Senate Bill 1.
The votes from the Republican-majority committees put the bills on a path to be voted on by the full chamber.
July 10: The waiting game
Hundreds of Texans from all over the state crowded the Capitol Saturday morning to speak during overlapping Senate and House public hearings.
Many of them were in line by 8 a.m. By Saturday evening nearly 300 people had signed up to testify at the House hearing. After waiting for hours, most gave up and left.
A few dozen stuck it out, including 19 members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority who arrived at 6 a.m., according to the Texas Tribune. They had to wait until 1:41 a.m. on Sunday for public testimony to begin.
July 11: Let’s do this
Democratic leaders had been hatching a secret plan to get the heck out of Dodge, and it was time to pull the trigger.
According to the Washington Post, they used a phone tree to spread the word Sunday night: “Pack your bags — and make sure they weigh no more than 45 pounds. Be ready to leave Austin at noon tomorrow. We’ll tell you then where we’re going.”
July 12 Dems depart
Dozens of lawmakers said goodbye to their families and met up at a plumbers’ union building where they boarded a bus for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
They arrived at the private terminal about 2:30 p.m. and drove straight onto the tarmac.
Terminal staff kept reporters away.
By 3 p.m., several supporters gathered outside the terminal with signs that said, "Let my people vote," and, "Thank you for fighting voter suppression," the Texas Tribune reported.
At least 51 of the 67 House Democrats boarded two private planes and arrived in Washington, D.C. around 8 p.m. Eastern time Monday. That left the House without the quorum numbers needed to pass any legislation.
"We're fighting with everything we got," Rep Jasmine Crockett said. "If we would have gone back tomorrow, I fully anticipate they would have locked the doors and locked us in until they got these bills passed.”
Back in Texas, Republican reaction was fast and furious.
"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,” Abbott said in a statement. “As they fly across the country on cushy private planes, they leave undone issues that can help their districts and our state.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” state Rep. Chris Turner responded. “We are doing our job. We were elected to represent our constituents and fight for our constituents' interests. We aren’t going to sit in Austin in the House chamber and watch the Republican majority steamroll the voting rights of our constituents.”
July 13 Stand-off
Nine Democratic state senators joined their colleagues in D.C. to show support.
The Democrats say they’ll wait it out until the 30-day special session ends, if necessary.
While in D.C., they’re meeting with national leaders to push for federal legislation that would overrule key parts of the Texas bills restricting early voting hours.
“I have in mind that person was working two or three jobs and needs to have the ability to early vote,” President Kamala Harris said during a meeting with the Dems. “I'm thinking about that single parent who has his or her kids in the backseat and needs to be able to have a drive-thru or a dropbox to vote. I'm thinking about the American with disability who needs to have the option of voting by mail."
In an interview with KHOU 11 News on Wednesday, Abbott said, “there’s no constitutional right to early voting.”
"Texas is making it far easier to vote time-wise than ever before," the governor said. "There is nobody of any type of background, economic or racial, who would be deprived of their ability to vote."
Earlier, Abbott threatened to have the Democrats arrested when they return to the Lone Star State and said he’ll continue to call as many special sessions as it takes.
July 13: Who’s footing the bill?
Abbott called the trip a “taxpayer junket” and KHOU 11 viewers wanted to know who’s paying for it.
Our VERIFY team did some digging and learned the planes were donated, according to the House Democratic Caucus.
They used caucus accounts to help cover hotels other expenses while legislators kick in the rest from their campaign funds and a daily stipend.
“This is a combination of us coming together to recognize that the funds that we have for our campaign are needed to make sure we could keep doing our job for Texas," Rep. Ann Johnson said.
The caucus has a donation link on its website.
