Those Texas Democrats Started a Fire

 

“It takes an act of defiance like this to wake up the country and let them know that our democracy is being stolen right in front of our eyes. If we’re going to be the spark that lights that fire, then we’re doing our jobs.”

 --Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, Democratic member of the Texas legislature from San Antonio, about the Texas quorum-break

The Texas Democrats currently in Illinois and a handful of other friendly states had a larger goal than stopping what everyone agrees is inevitable: the mid-decade re-gerrymandering of Texas to give Trump five more votes. They strategically saw their absconding as the only way to start a wide resistance movement of citizens willing to risk great personal cost to save the Republic from a blooming tyrant. And every progressive in the nation must thank them for the gesture.

Texas Democrats staged a walkout before, in 2021, and they learned some things from that. They were out a month before some of the members cracked and decided to return, the quorum was restored, and the Republicans passed a new voter restriction law. There's more resolve now, and a greater theatrical flare for getting in front of cameras with microphones, and now the whole nation is galvanized for the Gerrymander War (we're going to remember for all time who started it and why).

US Congressman Marc Veasey of Fort Worth celebrated the change of tone and tactic: “As Democrats we have shown up to a gunfight with nothing but good intentions and dull knives, and that era is over. We are not going to unilaterally disarm, and that is what’s different this time around.”