Working hard? Texas fugitive Democrats in Washington insist trip is no vacation

Some have become prolific tweeters with growing followings as they embrace the national spotlight.

Rep. Gene Wu celebrated his “fist [sic] meal as a fugitive” by posting a photo of a salad that he bought in a Capitol complex cafeteria.

After that tweet went viral, Wu followed up by posting photos of his breakfast, such as an energy drink or fruit and yogurt, and inviting Fox News to report it. Wu in other tweets said that a Republican colleague looked like a serial killer and mocked Republicans protesting outside the hotel where Democrats are staying.

BREAKING DOWN THE TEXAS VOTING BILL THAT DEMOCRATS FLED THE STATE TO BLOCK

In a Cheddar interview, he pushed back on Republicans teasing the fugitive Democrats about taking a case of beer with them on the way to Washington. Back on Twitter, he joked, “Send bourbon!”

Rep. James Talarico has become a media darling after going viral in a Fox News interview in which he interrogated host Pete Hegseth on whether former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. In the days since, he appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and ABC.

Some of the Democrats are choosing to highlight their struggle as opposed to the glamour shots.

Rep. Donna Howard said she was washing her clothes in the hotel sink and posted a photo of her underwear draped over the shower in her hotel bathroom.

After enduring mockery for the photo — the hotel where the legislators are staying provides a send-out laundry and dry cleaning service, and a laundromat is located less than a block away from the hotel — Howard apologized in another tweet, saying the post was a “distraction from real message.”

The lawmakers are not quite staying in the lap of luxury, but they are far from roughing it.

The cheapest rooms at the three-star downtown Washington Plaza Hotel, where the lawmakers are staying, start at around $100 per night and spike up to $200 or more on the weekend, according to its website. Amenities include a restaurant and an outdoor pool. In a conference room, lawmakers have set up a workspace with banquet tables and a projector that they used to join a remote meeting with a retired teachers association.

Their plan is to break quorum and stay in Washington through the end of Texas’s special legislative session on Aug. 6 in order to block a Republican-backed voting bill that they claim is a new “Jim Crow law.”

But with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott preparing to call additional special sessions until the bill is passed (and the legislators so far avoiding committing to break quorum in another special session), the trip is set to amount to little more than a monthlong summer public relations campaign, and the bill will eventually be passed.

As far as the public relations campaign goes, the stunt is proving to be a success.

The legislators are making numerous TV appearances, including on Fox News. MSNBC on Monday will air a special presentation discussion with all of the Texas Democrats in Washington. CNN State of the Union co-anchor Dana Bash was at a Friday press conference with some of the legislators in Alexandria, Virginia, suggesting an appearance on the network is in the works.

State Rep. Nicole Collier brushed off any suggestion that Texas voters could get tired of their stunt when there is essentially no chance of killing the legislation completely.

“This is not our first rodeo, as we say in Texas,” she told the Washington Examiner on Friday. “We’re prepared to stay and fight and move the needle forward and really work with anyone who’s willing to preserve that right.”

Along with higher national profiles come other minor perks. Some members of Congress pitched in to host the lawmakers at Hill Country Barbecue for lunch on Thursday, a downtown staple that was famous for its live-band karaoke before the pandemic.

But the fugitives are rebutting any suggestions that they are living it up in Washington.

“If anyone thinks this is a vacation, let me help you out with your definition. Because I’d much rather be home with my family,” state Sen. Jose Menendez, whose presence in Washington does not help Texas House Democrats keep the broken quorum, said Wednesday.

Others have pointed to the looming threat by Abbott that they will be arrested upon their return to Texas. Rep. Senfronia Thompson said Friday, “I’m not going to be a hostage. If they want to arrest me, bring it on.”

The biggest punishment that Texas Republicans have issued on the Democrats so far is removing Rep. Joe Moody from his position as speaker pro tempore.

Many of the lawmakers have talked about the stress of leaving their homes, families, and full-time jobs behind. Texas state representatives make only $600 per month for their work, plus a $211 per diem for every day they are in session (which some of the Democrats have said they will refuse for the time they are in Washington), and they have regular jobs.

Rather than leave his family at home, Rep. John Bucey drove to Washington from Austin, Texas, with his pregnant wife and 17-month-old daughter because she was too young to wear a face mask on an airplane. Other Texas legislators who came to Washington on a chartered plane were pictured on the aircraft without face coverings.

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The trip, being financed by the Texas House Democratic Caucus and the legislators’ individual campaigns, is not cheap. A fundraising pitch from state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said that the hotel and meal costs are $10,000 per day.

There is little chance of the Democrats running out of money for their excursion any time soon, however. Former congressman and Texas presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s political organization has raised more than $500,000 to fund their trip.