The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said it will offer to pay bail for the Texas Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., to block a GOP-backed election bill after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to have them arrested.
"War has been declared on democracy, and we will support anyone who stands up to defend it," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. "We are fully invested in good trouble."
“War has been declared on democracy, and we will support anyone who stands up to defend it," President @DerrickNAACP#FightingForward pic.twitter.com/cmJKTTpShq
— NAACP (@NAACP) July 13, 2021
This comes after more than 50 Texas Democratic legislators left the state for Washington, D.C., to block the 100-member quorum required for the state House to vote on the bill. The 57 absent lawmakers said they would remain in the nation's capital as long as they need to in order to deny the quorum.
While in Washington, the Texas Democrats are pushing Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation, and have requested that Texas Republicans compromise on a state election reform bill.
Abbott announced that the group of lawmakers would be arrested upon their return to the Lone Star State.
"As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done," he told KVUE.
Texas state senators were able to pass a GOP-backed voting reform bill Tuesday night. However, the bill is currently stalled until the Texas state House members return from D.C to vote on the legislation.
The bill passed through the state Senate would include a ban on drive-thru voting, an identification requirement for mail-in ballots, and the implementation of video surveillance.