Texas Democrats in Washington, D.C., to meet with Stacey Abrams and the Clintons

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

Texas House Democrats will meet virtually Thursday morning with voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton in their latest series of bids with the nation’s most powerful Democratic leaders.

More than two weeks into their stay in Washington, Texas Democrats have met with a handful of top Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and civil rights activist Martin Luther King III. But the Democrats have yet to nab a sit-down with President Joe Biden.

The Texas House Democratic Caucus also confirmed a virtual meeting with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Time is running out for Texas Democrats, who have been calling on Congress to pass voting legislation that would preempt efforts to restrict voting access like the one being pushed by GOP officials at home. Yet Congress remains unmoved, thanks to an ongoing filibuster that has brought the For the People Act, a nearly 900-page voting reform bill, to a halt.

The special session comes to a close just in a little over a week — but Gov. Greg Abbott has said he’ll call as many special sessions as necessary in order to pass new voting restrictions.

Before the meeting, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin said in a statement that “Texas House Democrats couldn’t be more thrilled or honored to be addressed by Leader Abrams or any of the Clintons.”

She went on to draw parallels between Abram’s efforts in Georgia to those unfolding in Texas, claiming that “without Stacey Abrams, there is no House Democratic walkout and millions of Texans would be stuck with unfair, racist election laws that make it harder for Black and brown Texans to vote.”

Abrams first garnered national attention in 2018 after her campaign for Georgia governor against then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. She was the first Black woman in the country to be a major party’s nominee for governor and raked in high-profile endorsements from leaders like former U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

Abrams lost the election to Kemp, whose office was found guilty of purging voter registration applications, particularly those of voters of color.

Since then, Abrams launched Fair Fight Action, which has been credited for advancing voter turnout in Georgia and propelling Democrats to razor-thin wins in the 2020 federal election.

Join us Sept. 20-25 at the 2021 Texas Tribune Festival. Tickets are on sale now for this multi-day celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the day’s news, curated by The Texas Tribune’s award-winning journalists. Learn more.