Voting

The march starts in Georgetown and ends at the Texas Capitol on Saturday, where the groups will hold a rally on the south steps.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan issued an arrest warrant for Democratic State Representative Philip Cortez after he returned to Washington D.C. Sunday night.

Three of the Democratic legislators who went to Washington, D.C., to deny the Texas House a quorum have been invited to detail their concerns at a specially called hearing on the contentious legislation that includes new restrictions on voting.

Over the past few days, the Texas delegation has met with nearly all of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, save for President Joe Biden. But there is not yet clear movement to revive the congressional Democrats’ federal voting legislation.

Democratic State Representative Philip Cortez of San Antonio has returned to Texas after leaving the state last week to break quorum of the special legislative session.

Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas in an effort to block Republican-led restrictive voting legislation from being passed.

Harris County, which includes Houston, has more than 4.7 million people. Many of the voting rights innovations installed last year are at risk of being eliminated by the Republican-led Legislature.

Austin-area state Rep. Celia Israel and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio are among the fully vaccinated Texas House Democratic Caucus members who tested positive for the virus.

While Democrats were in Washington, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 1, one of the sweeping voting bills House members are blocking from passage.

In addition to the controversial voting bill, the agenda includes bail reform, restrictions on transgender youth sports participation, and funding for the Legislature itself.