HOUSTON – Democratic members of the Harris County Delegation discussed why Texas Democrats broke quorum and talked about what their next plans are during a virtual meeting Tuesday.
The delegation also discussed their work in Washington and answered general questions. The Zoom meeting was held at 2 p.m.
The following members were in attendance:
- Representative Senfronia Thompson
- Representative Armando Walle
- Representative Alma Allen
- Representative Gene Wu
- Representative Shawn Thierry
- Representative Mary Ann Perez
- Representative Christina Morales
Allen said the reason why they are currently in Washington, D.C., is to work on Capitol Hill to let people vote and guarantee Constitutional rights are being practiced to people across the state of Texas.
“You don’t put roadblocks in the way of persons trying to cast a vote,” she said.
Allen said their goal in D.C. is their constituents’ rights to be preserved and not stripped away and to let people vote.
Wu said they have met with federal officials and may have a meeting with the rest of the delegation to help change the story and narrative on passing national legislation that protects all Americans.
When asked if they feared being arrested, Allen said no one is afraid of getting arrested.
“If they want to arrest us, let them bring it on,” she said. “We rather go to jail -- this fight for the freedom to vote, the Constitutional right to vote in America is worth going to jail for. And if they want to go that step further to put us in jail because we stand on the rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States of America and Texas, then I am ready to be arrested.”
When asked how surprised they are about the challenges of COVID diagnosis that have popped up within the delegation considering that many have been vaccinated, Thierry said they are not surprised.
“We’re not surprised. We believe the reason that we’ve been able to diagnose and find out we have positive cases in our group is because we’ve been so responsible by testing constantly.”
She said those who have tested positive are doing well and have little to no symptoms from the virus because they were vaccinated.