Texas House Speaker offers Democrats free plane ride home to return to state
The plane will be on standby at Dulles International Airport, and Dade Phelan’s team said his political campaign, not taxpayers, will pay for the flight. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan behind the dias on July 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
El Paso Democrat Joe Moody stripped of leadership position in Texas House after leaving state with Democrats
Moody, one of House Speaker Dade Phelan's closest Democratic allies, is the first Democrat to suffer political backlash after the quorum break. Full Story
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![State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, speaks with colleagues on the House floor during session at the state capitol on May 25, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Who is footing the bill for Texas Democrats’ weekslong exodus to block the voting bill?
With over 50 House Democrats in Washington — along with 12 paid staff — the costs are quickly mounting and the party's funds are not unlimited. Full Story
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![Private charter planes at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on July 12, 2021. Democratic lawmakers booked charter flights to leave the state in protest of Republican-led voting restriction legislation.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Behind the partisan drama lies a profoundly serious struggle over who gets shut out under Texas voting laws
Whose voices will be heard in Texas halls of power? That question beats at the heart of the Democratic quorum break that has brought the Legislature to a halt and focused national attention on GOP efforts to make voting in Texas harder. Full Story
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![Tevin English holds signs in front of the Texas Capitol at a Voting Rights Advocacy Day rally held by various voting rights advocacy groups on July 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texans, where’s your Democratic lawmaker?
Here’s a list of the Texas Democrats who left the state in an effort to block GOP voting legislation. Full Story
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![An empty House floor the day after Texas Democrats left the state to break quorum over a Republican-led voting restrictions bill. July 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
What it means to break quorum and what you need to know about the Texas House Democrats’ dramatic departure
Democrats are preventing the Texas House from having enough members to pass legislation. We explain what that means, what options Republicans have and what’s in the voting bills Democrats oppose. Full Story
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![House Speaker Dade Phelan speaks with legislators on the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Senate presses forward passing GOP voting and bail bills, as Texas House in chaos over Democrats’ decampment
If the House Democrats who skipped town to block voting legislation don’t return before the special session ends, the Senate bills will languish without becoming law. Full Story
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![A poll worker feeds a voting machine and power cord through a voter’s car window in the drive-through line at NRG Stadium in Houston during the first day of early voting on Oct. 13, 2020.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: Texas legislators are fighting ferociously — and for voters' attention
Texas lawmakers are battling over voting laws — pushing people into late hearings and walking out on the proceedings in Austin — and hoping their voters will appreciate the ferocity. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, joined other Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives, who are boycotting a special session of the legislature in an effort to block Republican-backed voting restrictions, as they speak in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., on July 13, 2021.]()
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Officials in charge of Texas' power grid try to reassure lawmakers and the public that they're fixing lingering problems
Lawmakers cannot pass laws to improve Texas’ power grid during the special legislative session. They’re discussing it anyway. Full Story
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![Reliability Coordinators monitored the state power grid during a tour of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) command center in Taylor in 2012.]()
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Texas House Republicans vote to track down absent Democrats and arrest them if necessary
The procedural move carries little apparent weight since the Democrats who fled the state to break quorum are beyond the jurisdiction of Texas law enforcement. Full Story
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![House Republicans crowd around the speakers desk to discuss a point of order attempting to strip absent members of their committee appointments on the House floor on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
To block voting legislation, Democrats put bail bills, legislative funding and other measures in peril
Conservative priorities to restrict pretrial release from jail and ban critical race theory in schools were up in the air after Democratic lawmakers chartered flights to Washington, D.C. But so was funding for retired teachers and legislative employees. Full Story
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![Speaker of the House Dade Phelan gavels in the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Twenty abortion providers sue Texas officials over law that bans abortions as early as six weeks
The law is set to take effect Sept. 1. Full Story
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After hours of impassioned testimony, Texas Senate panel advances bills limiting the school sports teams that transgender athletes can join
Gov. Greg Abbott added the legislation to the special session agenda after similar bills failed to pass during the regular session earlier this year. Full Story
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![A high school volleyball player gets ready to serve during a game.]()
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Texas Democrats land in Washington, D.C., and promise to stay out of Texas until after special legislative session ends Aug. 6
Texas Democrats said they are urging Congress again to pass federal voting laws, acknowledging that Gov. Greg Abbott would continue to call special sessions until the GOP elections bill was passed. Full Story
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![State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, speaks to the press after Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives, who are boycotting a special session of the legislature to block Republican-backed voting restrictions, arrive at Dulles airport in Sterling, Virginia, on July 12, 2021.]()
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Deploy law enforcement? Call another special session? Texas GOP mulls options for elections bill after Democrats leave the state
A number of House Republicans indicated that they would support what’s known as a call of the House, a procedural move that would allow law enforcement to track down lawmakers who have already fled the chamber. Full Story
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![Planes stationed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on July 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Live updates: Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Democratic Texas lawmakers opposing voting restrictions legislation
Here are the latest updates on the Texas Democrats leaving Texas to block the special legislative session and a GOP voting restrictions bill. Full Story
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![Vice President Kamala Harris met in Washington D.C. with Democratic members of the Texas state legislature who left the state in an effort to slow changes to election laws and voter access, on July 13, 2021.]()
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Texas House Democrats flee the state in move that could block voting restrictions bill, bring Legislature to a halt
A majority of Democrats in the Texas House left for Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon in a bid to again deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new voting restrictions with 26 days left in a special legislative session called largely for that purpose. Full Story
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![Members of the House Democratic Caucus attend a press conference on the opening day of the special session at the Texas Capitol on July 8, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agrees to stop blocking people on Twitter, ending lawsuit over First Amendment
Attorneys in the lawsuit, which was filed in April, argued that being blocked from viewing Paxton’s tweets limited the rights of people to access statements made by the public official, therefore violating the First Amendment. Full Story
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![Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the Gun Owners of America assembly in 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Eva Guzman raises $1 million in first 10 days of attorney general campaign, with some major donor support
The former state Supreme Court justice is one of two Republican primary challengers to Attorney General Ken Paxton, the other being Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Full Story
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![Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman at the Texas Republican Convention at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio on June 14, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: There’s plenty still to play out ahead of 2022, but Greg Abbott is starting to run up the score
With a big endorsement and a record-setting fundraising period behind him, Texas' governor is in a political sweet spot. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott spoke to the Senate at the Capitol on the first day of the 2021 Legislature on Jan. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
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