NewsLocal News

Actions

Texas Democrats are meeting Monday to discuss voting rights for all Americans

Meeting is beginning of five-day conference
Posted at 5:43 AM, Jul 19, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-19 13:53:22-04

A group of Texas Democrats will meet Monday in Washington as they continue their protest of new voting restrictions they vow to change.

Labor leader Dolores Huerta will kick off Texas Democrats' voting rights conference in the nation's capitol.

Lawmakers who fled for Washington continue to say they don't plan to return to Texas any time soon. They say they will continue to push for federal voting legislation, making it easier for all Americans to vote.

Today's conference will be largely virtual after five Texas lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19.

"Many of my colleagues left behind children, sick loved ones, elderly parents," State Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) said. "They left behind their day jobs and they took health risk to be here."

This week's focus comes just after the one-year anniversary of the death of U.S. Rep. John Lewis. The voting rights bill that carries his name is stuck in Congress. That's something the group of Texas Democrats is trying to change.

It remains to be seen whether any of this will make a difference.

The two voting rights bills are in limbo in Congress now after being blocked by filibuster - which even some Democrats say in the right way to do business.