Why would anyone sign such a document? Texas is a banana republic.

They all realized they could fund raises off the time they left the state and now realized they don’t really care all that much about democracy or r stopping fascism…

How is this not kidnapping?

False Imprisonment at the least.

It comes down to this - we fight the fascist fucks or they WILL use the final solution on us - and de-freedomize their fascist wonderland. Stay and have no voice but being there is enough for them to do everything they want or leave and stop them in their tracks... the choice is ours and it's clear

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There may be as many as three elected dems there. 3

Can't even do the dozens of us meme

As someone in Texas it’s nice to see one of my senators (Cook) actually doing something compared to my other two senators (Cornyn and Cruz)’s status quo of evil and cringe

i’m quite beside myself over their absence.

Also under what fucking authority is she being held?

There's a few outside the chambers at a protest. No idea if they were asked to sign the same documents she's refusing.

Apparently some of the other democrats SIGNED THE DOC. so like they left her in there alone so they could leave under police escort for the foreseable future?

I honestly don't know what's worse.

I think leaving her in there alone TOTALLY SUCKS.

They signed the bullshit paper...gave away their leverage for nothing...then abandoned their one (1) colleague who stood her ground? What are they doing now? Watching this on TV at home after dinner with the family?

They did not give it away for nothing. It's been well reported. They consulted with lawyers, will be pursuing this in court, as they should. They made their point, got assurances from Newsom he would retaliate. Not sure if I trust Newsom, though. (Texan living in CA) But yes, weird that they left.

Newsom has exactly the ego to fight back on this.

He's absolutely going for it, they're already rolling out a campaign for CA voters: Lend us the power to save the Republic and we'll do some damage to their Confederate Governor on the way (it's a good pitch.) The closer is that the maps automatically revert after 18 mos. Emergency dick punch only.

political malpractice This was a righteous showdown waiting to happen and they let it slip away. It's become one anyone, only now they look like cowards who abandoned their one (1) courageous colleague. They should all be here, now, in front of the cameras, lawyers by their sides, gunning for G.A.

They could not hold out forever. They forced him to close the special session. He's now trying to convene another since they're mostly back. Which they knew he would. And there's a good chance there are R House Reps quietly backing the court case bc it might invalidate the voucher vote.

Please take a step back. They are tryingto achieve long term goals, not short ones.

Also, they are all over the news here. Wtf are you talking about?

Newsom cannot retaliate. He and the CA state legislature can propose a ballot measure. It looks like that’s happening but that’s just the beginning of a whole circus.

They need a ballot measure? Lol, so that's dead. It has to happen by 2026, there isn't enough time for sigs, approval before then, all it takes is one SV billionaire to tun ads and it's a "no." I knew they shouldn't trust CA.

If the legislature puts it on the ballot you bypass some of that process, so it's not impossible, as far as I understand. Hardly a sure thing either, though.

A special election will not go over well with CAians who have already been told by Newsom he wants to gut social services, climate leg, etc to fix a budget shortfall. Which a lot of people are already ?? abt bc he was just handing out checks a couple years ago. Plus, one SV billionaire running ads.

I'm not saying it's a definite "no," but it was unbelievably arrogant for him to promise this given the uphill battle it'll be. Otoh, I hope there are a bunch of progressive candidates on the municipal ballots bc the turnout will be good. (I wasn't scheduled to vote this year. Not all CAians were)

All the other Dems signed the doc and had escorts; otherwise they wouldn't have been allowed to leave, either. They're responsible for this, too.

Did she volunteer or did she draw the short straw?

there are (at least?) 2 state senators working on support (the other one not mentioned in this thread, but another post)

Senators Alvarado and Cook have both been in the chamber in the last couple of hours as well.

so that’s 3

Senator Gutierrez streamed something from the rotunda about an hour ago, so that’s 4 (that I know of): Eckhardt, Alvarado, Cook, and Gutierrez. (Some txlege context: there are 11 Texas Dem senators; the Texas Senate has 31 total members.)

Didn’t they leave the state to prevent Abbott from getting the quorum he needs in order to call a special session to gerrymander mid-decade? www.cnn.com/2025/08/03/p...

They all signed the damn paper I guess

Also, where's the rest of liberal Austin? Aren't they proud of being weird out there? You'd think they'd want to push back on the authoritarian overreach

I thought they were all in Illinois. Why is she even in the State?

💯 👆

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Gene Wu and at least one other are in the chamber with her.