Texas Democrats fled the state to try and block a GOP voting bill, thinking it would make them progressive heroes. Instead, their stunt has been a disaster at every turn.
Five Texas Democrats have now tested positive for COVID-19. All five claim to be vaccinated, but it isn’t a good look for a party that continues to claim that it is treating the pandemic seriously, especially when some members are now calling for a nationwide mask mandate as a result of their own irresponsible behavior.
Thank you for all the comments concerning masking.
I’ll forward your request to Congress and the White House to ask that we reinstitute a national masking requirement.
I appreciate and welcome the vocal support for such a mandate.
— Gene Wu (@GeneforTexas) July 17, 2021
So, to recap: Texas Democrats lost yet another election in 2020. They fled their own state to prevent the majority from passing a benign piece of legislation. They chartered a flight that they took, maskless, to Washington, D.C., to demand the federal government overrule the state they were elected to legislate in. Then five of them tested positive for the virus and also exposed the vice president.
And, of course, this entire effort has failed in one of its two stated goals. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin met with them and once again reiterated his support for the Senate filibuster. Their other goal, blocking Texas’s voting bill, will inevitably fail. It’s not a great return on investment for the estimated $1.5 million it will cost them (along with the over $1 million it will cost Texas taxpayers).
Even establishment media can’t really spin this, though not for lack of trying. The Associated Press tried to paint this vacation as a hardship, but Texas Democrats tweeting about their laundry and eating salads does little for the “woe is us” narrative. Neither does the hypocrisy of urging the Senate to eliminate the minority party’s ability to obstruct the majority when that is precisely what they are doing back home.
It has been embarrassment after embarrassment for a state party that just fell on its face in the 2020 elections. Texas Democrats have remained an afterthought for years, only saved from complete embarrassment by some close statewide losses during the Democratic wave in 2018. With the way this stunt has gone so far, it’s not hard to see why they have a penchant for losing.
The only way this ends is with a whimpering defeat, as the refugees will have to return to Texas at some point and watch the bill pass, over their objections. And then the 2022 midterm elections will come along in an environment that already would naturally favor the GOP. As bad as things have gone for Texas Democrats during their gambit so far, it seems that their plight will only get worse.
