As we await word on whether or not any of the Texas Democrats who fled the state amid a redistricting battle will get arrested for job abandonment, some of them are still milking the situation for all they feel it is worth.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, for instance, spoke on behalf of his colleagues during a press conference in Illinois on Monday while standing next to the state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker (D), who apparently has become a beacon of “democracy” despite the the Prairie State being one of the most notoriously gerrymandered ones in the country under decades of Democrat reign.
Others, as we also reported, scooted off to New York, another heavily gerrymandered Democrat-run state, to seek counsel from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who promptly revealed she was on board with trying to disband an independent redistricting commission, approved by voters in 2014, all in the name of “democracy” or something.
SEE ALSO: Texas Democrats Make an Even Dumber Move, and You Just Have to Laugh at This Point
State Rep. James Talarico (D) has also been making the rounds, basking in the glow of being viewed by some political observers as a “rising star” in Texas politics and a possible future candidate for the United States Senate.
But he ran into a roadblock Monday during an interview with ABC News, which pressed him on how flood relief legislation was being held up because Democrats ran away. Watch as Talarico repeatedly blames Republicans, and how the reporter doesn’t let him off the hook.
“ABC: But the reality is – whether it’s a talking point or not – the consequence is this bill is not going to advance.”
Texas Republicans know how to play hardball, much like North Carolina Republicans, the latter of whom had to experience Democrat rule for over 100 years before taking control of both chambers in 2010, and they’ve consistently engaged in payback with Democrat state legislators ever since.
Late last year, Republican leaders in NC got blasted by The Usual Suspects by tacking on unrelated legislation to a Hurricane Helene relief bill, one that critics claimed included so-called “power grabs” designed to weaken then-incoming Gov. Josh Stein’s (D) power and shift responsibilities and structures for some state agencies and officeholders once he took office.
The bill passed, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed it, and the veto was then overridden by both chambers.
The point is that to the victors go the spoils, and that is how Texas Republicans play – and, understandably, they make no apologies for it. And on this issue, it’s especially important to point that out, considering the redistricting power plays that have happened in the very blue states Democrats cut and run to when the going got tough.
I believe the saying is “you fight fire with fire,” which is why Texas GOP leaders proposed redistricting during the same special session that was being used to debate various flood relief and preparedness bills, as well as a bathroom bill and an abortion pill bill, among others.
Those bills will be held up as long as Democrats continue to engage in these stunts because their leaving has done what they designed it to do: Deny the quorum necessary to pass or reject legislation.
That’s on Texas Democrats, not Republicans, and years from now, when Talarico is presumably on stage during a Senate debate touting his record, hopefully his opponent(s) will waste no time in reminding both him and voters of that very inconvenient fact.
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