Jul 13, 2021 - Politics & Policy

NAACP will offer to pay bail for Texas Democrats who fled state

Kierra Frazier

President of NAACP speaking — NAACP president Derrick Johnson speaks onstage in 2018. Photo: Earl Gibson III/Getty Images

The NAACP plans to offer to pay bail for a group of Texas Democrats who fled the state to block GOP-led voting restrictions after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened they would be arrested upon their return, CNN reports.

What they're saying: "War has been declared on democracy, and we will support anyone who stands up to defend it," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement, per CNN. "We are fully invested in good trouble."

Driving the news: Democratic lawmakers left the state for Washington, D.C., Monday night to block the legislation via a lack of quorum in the chamber.

The 57 lawmakers said they will stay away for as long as necessary to block the measure from passing. That would require the group to remain out of state for the remainder of the special session.
Abbott told Fox News Monday night that "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."

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NAACP will offer to pay bail for Texas Democrats who fled state

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