Sharpton and MLK III Link Arms with Texas Democrats on Voting Rights

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III linked arms with Democratic fugitives from the Texas House on Wednesday at the monument to King’s father, insisting their struggle against voter suppression is not in vain despite obstacles in Austin and the U.S. Senate.

“Not in recent history has a legislative body had to leave their state because injustice was taking place for the citizens of the state,” King said, with the massive granite edifice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. looming behind him. He added that his parents “and many others gave their lives so that we would not be asked to be here today talking about expanding voting rights. It’s almost — any of us could be very frustrated.”

More than 50 House Democrats slipped out of Austin to break quorum and block a GOP bill to restrict voting hours and absentee ballots and make other changes they view as an assault on minority voters.

Sharpton lauded the Texans for digging in against an “existential threat to voting” as they run out the clock on the special session Gov. Greg Abbott called.

Sharpton compared the fugitives to Fannie Lou Hamer and other civil rights icons who risked jail and beatings to propel the movement toward racial justice.

“The disgrace that Texas and Georgia and Florida and other states are doing must be resisted,” he said, referring to a spate of GOP-backed voting restrictions enacted since the 2020 election, often justified as “election integrity” measures needed to address Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud. “They are in a great tradition, and we need them to stand tall.”

The Texans have sought to leverage their notoriety during their absence from Austin, pressuring Congress for legislation that would preempt state-level restrictions — so far to no avail. The event at the MLK Memorial was part of that effort.

“We literally have lit a fire in this country to the extent that voting rights now is the No. 1 priority for so many people,” said state Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, noting that Democratic state lawmakers from around the country will be in Washington next week to lobby on voting rights. “We are only building momentum. … They’re starting to feel the pressure, and that matters.”

Congressional Democrats and their Texas allies are demanding a bill to reimpose federal Justice Department oversight on elections in Texas and other states with a history of discrimination. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court neutered the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ruling that even with recent congressional updates, it relied on an outdated formula to identify jurisdictions that deserve such scrutiny.

The Texans have sought to leverage their notoriety during their absence from Austin, pressuring Congress for legislation that would preempt state-level restrictions — so far to no avail. The event at the MLK Memorial was part of that effort.

“We literally have lit a fire in this country to the extent that voting rights now is the No. 1 priority for so many people,” said state Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, noting that Democratic state lawmakers from around the country will be in Washington next week to lobby on voting rights. “We are only building momentum. … They’re starting to feel the pressure, and that matters.”

Congressional Democrats and their Texas allies are demanding a bill to reimpose federal Justice Department oversight on elections in Texas and other states with a history of discrimination. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court neutered the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ruling that even with recent congressional updates, it relied on an outdated formula to identify jurisdictions that deserve such scrutiny.

See full article in The Dallas Morning News.