Why I Denied Quorum

My Democratic colleagues and I have left Texas to stop Abbott and Trump's plans to bring fascism to Texas. 

When Abbott announced the special session last month, he didn't do it in response to the tragic flooding in the Texas Hill Country - in fact he used it as cover to do Trump's bidding of making Congress impeachment-proof. Remember, reporters have been covering Trump's plans to rig Congress via redistricting since early June.

We've had enough. Constituents in HD 104 have had enough of Republican lies. I know you have, too. 

When we finally saw the Republican maps, they confirmed our worst suspicions: Abbott's hand-picked attorneys had torn apart minority communities in Houston, in Austin, and here in North Texas - even in HD 104. Congressman Veasey had been drawn out of TX-33. Congresswoman Johnson had her entire district redrawn east. North Texas’ districts would be completely different, which will hurt or impact constituents the most. 

Abbott and Trump used the devastation of the July 4th floods as a backdrop while he announced the most extreme special session agenda we've faced in my four terms as a House member. They used death and the loss of innocent children to push their instructions from Trump.

My colleagues and I are disgusted, and we won't have any part in it. So, Sunday, we left in order to keep the Texas House from advancing illegal maps and keep the United States Congress in the hands of the people. 

This fight is personal for me, like it is for all of my colleagues. I'm leaving behind my family, my work, and my puppy, Mona. I wish this would have been a simple special session focused on disaster relief for flood victims. Instead, it became an agenda that will be reduced to a piece of campaign mail when Abbott runs for president. Disgusting, disappointing, and pathetic. 

This is why we left, we are standing up for our nation, and our Constitution, like our nation's founding fathers and mothers expect of us.