Share
News

Texas House Speaker Signs Arrest Warrant for Democratic Lawmaker

Share

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has signed an arrest warrant for one of the runaway Texas Democrats holed up in Washington, D.C., to avoid debating an elections integrity bill back home.

The civil warrant seeks the arrest of Democratic state Rep. Philip Cortez, who made a jaunt to Texas last week and then returned to Washington, according to The Texas Tribune.

The warrant calls for Cortez to be brought to the House. It currently is not enforceable while Cortez is in Washington.

In the standoff between Democrats who vow to block an election integrity measure from passing and Republicans who want it passed, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will keep calling special sessions until Democrats who left the state to ensure the state House could not have a quorum return. The current special session ends Aug. 6.

Cortez said he flew back to Texas in hope of finding “good faith dialogue” on the bill Democrats ran away from.

Trending:
Fani Willis Throws a Tantrum to Jim Jordan as Contempt Deadline Arrives

Upon his return, he declared that such talks “have not produced progress.”

On Monday, Phelan, a Republican, said Cortez “has irrevocably broken my trust and the trust of this chamber.”

Cortez “represented to me and his fellow members that he wanted to work on policy and find solutions to bring his colleagues back to Texas,” Phelan said.

Are these Texas Democrats becoming a joke?

“As a condition of being granted permission to temporarily leave the House floor, Rep. Cortez promised his House colleagues that he would return,” Phelan said. “Instead, he fled the state.”

Cortez issued his own statement saying he had “a duty to my constituents to do everything I can to stop this harmful legislation.”

“I will continue fighting for my constituents to ensure fair and full access to the ballot box,” he said. “All Texans deserve nothing less.”

Cortez told The Dallas Morning News his trip was to ensure Democratic input in the legislation.

Related:
Federal Courts Hand Republicans Congressional Map Wins Two Days in a Row

“It’s important that we have multiple tracks on this issue,” he said. “Whether this bill is addressed now or whether it’s addressed in a potential next special session, we need to make sure we have Democratic input.”


Texas Democrats have sought to have Democrats who control Congress act to make the Republican-drafted legislation go away by passing a federal elections overhaul bill that is stalled in the Senate.

Democrats have been ridiculed for holding a “super-spreader” event because several Democrats have tested positive for the coronavirus, and according to media reports, passed the virus along to members of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff and White House aides.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , ,
Share
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




Conversation