Walk Or Fold
Texas deserves fighters not seat-fillers.
Today, Representative Erin Zwiener (D-HD45) held a town hall in her district with Congressman Joaquin Castro. She live-streamed it on Facebook, so of course I watched. One of the first, in a long line of speakers, was San Marcos City Councilwoman Amanda Rodriguez, and her words were piercing. She explained that she previously worked at the Capitol, attending every single hearing and seeing how it works up close.
Then she said, “There are many things that the state legislature does that many of us can agree seriously harm us. We’re not talking a year of harm, we’re not talking a decade of harm. We’re talking harm. Sustaining harm. But redistricting? You’re talking generations of harm. That to undo, that you and me will probably never see in our lifetime.”
She went on, “If there is one thing that helps all of us wake up and realize that we are living in a dying democracy, please let it be this. For those of you who still believe that we have it, what little we have of it is gone. This bill will make it to the House floor on Monday, and it has the votes. It passed the Committee this morning with flying colors. There are still mechanisms in place to use. And that is to break quorum. Leave.”
And the crowd erupted in cheers.
This morning, Republicans voted the maps out of Committee, and it passed along party lines.
No one is surprised by this. We expected this to happen. Every single Republican on the Committee voted in favor of the maps, and every single Democrat voted against them.
Nearly all the Democrats (who were there) made statements before the votes. I think they’re worth listening to.
Representative Chris Turner (D-HD101):
The only Democrat on the Committee who didn’t make a statement was Representative Bobby Guerrera (D-HD41). To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him speak.
Representative Christian Manuel (D-HD22):
It should be noted that several Democrats on this Committee were absent this morning, but I wouldn’t read too much into it. Whether they were there or not, Republicans still outnumbered them, and the maps were going to go either way.
Missing this morning:
Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D-HD120)
Representative Josey Garcia (D-HD124)
Representative Senfronia Thompson (D-141)
But why would they miss this morning’s vote? Again, they’re outnumbered, so it’s not like it mattered, but maybe they had a family emergency, or maybe staying up until 2 am for the Committee the night before and then waking up for a morning vote was too much. Or perhaps they’ve already left the state for a quorum break.
Representative Gene Wu (D-HD137):
While we were all still reeling from the vote this morning and the emotional wind down from this long Legislative week of hell in Austin, this afternoon, the Chair of the Calendars Committee, Todd Hunter, abruptly scheduled a Calendars meeting for Sunday at 9 am.
The Calendars Committee decides what bills go on the House floor calendar. Since only one bill has passed out of the Committee so far for this special session, and the House is scheduled to gavel in on Monday and Tuesday, you can probably guess where this is going.
Representative Jon Rosenthal (D-HD135):
The Calendars Committee is one of the few Committees that still happens behind closed doors, but I’ll tell you the Republicans’ plan. I would be surprised to be wrong.
The Calendars Committee meets tomorrow to schedule the maps/HB4 for Second Reading on the House floor on Monday. And if there is a quorum, Republicans will intend on passing it on Third Reading on Tuesday, then the House will try to get to the rest of the items on the Governor’s list by the end of the session. And the maps will go to the Senate, where the GOP has a supermajority and will face little resistance.
Representative Joe Moody (D-HD78):
Will the House have a quorum on Monday?
That’s the million-dollar question. We need 51 Democrats to break quorum. Insiders have told me we do have 51, and others have told me we don’t have 51. Until Monday, we don’t know for sure what’s going actually to happen.
On Monday, we’re going to be looking at one of three scenarios:
There is a quorum. All Democrats are there on both the House and Senate side. They either decided to stay and fight or couldn’t muster enough for a quorum break, and figured it was better that they all stayed.
There is a quorum, but most of the Democrats are gone. They couldn’t get the 51 in the House or the 11 in the Senate. They fell short. The stragglers gave Republicans a quorum.
There is no quorum in either or both the House or the Senate, and Democrats were able to pull out the numbers they need to stop the maps, at least for this special session, which lasts until August 23.
If enough Democrats stay behind to give Republicans a quorum, whether intentionally or not, we should know who they are. Those Democrats should be primaried.
Remember Councilwoman Rodriguez’s words? This moment is profound, as in a generational, structural democracy-hanging-by-a-thread kind of way. The only thing standing between millions of Texans and generational harm is Democratic quorum denial.
This moment requires political courage. It’s an extreme move, it’s uncomfortable, it’s risky, it’s politically explosive, but Democrats are backed into a corner. There is no excuse for being the one who hands Republicans the win, even by passive presence.
Should the holdouts be named?
In case you missed it, Nancy Thompson from Mothers Against Greg Abbott put out a video on social media naming about 20 House Democrats and the two Senate Democrats who were the holdouts for breaking quorum next week. Later, she put out a second video striking three names from that list.
Everyone already knows the two Senate holdouts are Judith Zaffirini and Chuy Hinojosa. I’ve called for Hinojosa to be primaried before, and I’ve been critical of Zaffirini’s record for years, mostly because she votes like shit, but also because her family bankrolls Abbott.
But, right now is not the time for that, because the powers that be (whoever that is) decided all of the pressure was supposed to be on the Texas House Democratic Caucus. Although I strongly disagree.
To my understanding, Thompson has received a huge pushback from House Democrats to take down her video naming names. I’ve heard from other activists that we need to be supportive right now and not put pressure on our elected officials.
I guess the philosophical question is, if there are quorum-breaker holdouts, do we name them before the quorum is broken, to get their constituents to call them, pressure them, beg them, sweet talk them, whatever it takes?
Or do we wait until after the quorum is broken to find out who they are? If there are more than 11, then maybe it’ll be too late.
As I was writing this, Thompson put out another video update. I’m adding it here because I think it’s a good message.
She has a point. She named names. If they are mad about it, then they should prove her wrong. We’re asking for courage in a moment that demands it. Because if they fold now, the harm won’t be theirs alone. It’ll belong to the rest of us for decades.
So here we are.
Maps are on the move. The votes are lined up. The calendar is rigged. And the only thing standing between Texas and a generational power grab is whether enough Democrats are willing to walk.
We’ve been told to be quiet. To be supportive. To wait and see. But if we wait too long, there won’t be anything left to support. This isn’t about blaming people who fight. It’s about calling out the ones who don’t.
If some Democrats give Republicans the quorum they need, we deserve to know. Because redistricting isn’t just policy, it’s power. It decides whose voices count and whose don’t. And if Democrats don’t show up for that, then what are they even there for?
This is the moment. Either they stand with us, or they stand in the way. We find out on Monday.
August 23: Last day of special session
November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election
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It’s way, way past time for coddling elected officials. NT is right. You don’t like being called out? Prove us wrong. Put up or shut up. You chose to serve, and the moment demands service, not servility to a status quo and the scraps it sometimes deigns to feed you. We don’t send you to Austin to gladhand and secure sinecures. And some of you, we clearly shouldn’t be sending to Austin at all.
If this passes i cant imagine the amount of damage and how demoralizing it is gonna be to Texas Democrats. This is undoubtable gonna damage so many people in Texas and the frustrating part is that any avenues to prevent this has also been captured by the republicans. Texas democrats seriously have to consider investing in the judiciary because the judiciary is also captured by the far right republicans. If the judiciary was independent they could have stopped all these nonsense. Its so disappointing that we had to suffer the consequences of people like Gilberto Hinojosa which was incompetent. This is just pure incompetency and the pure belief that the democratic party for years thought that they could capture "moderate" or even far right republicans to vote for a democrat which they never will.