Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson spoke with CBS on Tuesday to explain why Democratic lawmakers left the Lone Star State, blocking Republican efforts to gerrymander five new GOP congressional seats ahead of the midterm elections.
When asked about conservative claims that Democrats are “running away,” Johnson responded by reminding viewers that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his minions are trying to pave over the GOP’s failures by degrading Texans’ voting power.
“Abandoning your job is going to Cancun in the middle of a deadly freeze, right?” Johnson said, referring to Sen. Ted Cruz. “Abandoning your job is cutting health care when people need access. Abandoning your job is cutting public education when we already have one of the worst education systems in the nation. What we are doing is the fundamental protection by our founding fathers in the Texas Constitution that says the minority party has the opportunity to break quorum when you know that the majority has really gone off the rails.”
Johnson also compared what’s happening in Texas to how Georgia officials resisted Donald Trump’s attempt to change the results of the 2020 election after he lost to former President Joe Biden.
“They said, ‘No, sir. That’s a step too far.’ But when he called Texas Republicans and said, ‘I need you to fill me five seats,’ they said, ‘Does July work for you?’” Johnson said. “This is not just about our voters—it’s about the nation. And it’s important for people to know. They have threatened us personally. They have threatened our arrest. They have threatened our jobs. They have threatened us. The solution is, if we show up today at 3:00 and sit and be quiet, then we get to keep ours. But it kills the voice of everybody in this country. And so we won’t. We won’t sit and shut up to have them shut up the voices of voters.”
While Republicans like Abbott genuflect to an increasingly dictatorial Trump and escalating their threats of authoritarian action, Democrats like Johnson are taking a real stand to protect voters not just in Texas, but across the country.
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