Democrats ‘defend democracy’ by ditching it

Texas Democrats have once again fled the state — not in the face of danger or persecution, but to block a vote they know they’ll lose.

This time, they’re trying to derail a redistricting plan that would likely establish five more Republican districts. Rather than face the debate, they bolted. Gov. Greg Abbott responded by ordering the Texas Rangers to investigate the absent legislators for potential violations of state law, including bribery.

Voters should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

This isn’t a new tactic for Democrats in Texas. In 2003, they fled to a motel in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to block another redistricting vote. Eleven Senate Democrats later fled to New Mexico in a failed attempt to stop the plan. In 2021, Democrats once again abandoned their posts — this time flying to Washington, D.C. — to obstruct a bill that tightened mail-in voting rules and curbed 2020-era voting expansions in Harris County. That bill passed too.

Now they’re repeating the act, claiming to “defend democracy” from Republican gerrymandering while retreating to safe blue havens like Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York. One Democrat compared the new redistricting map to the Holocaust (she later apologized). Others predictably called the plan “racist.” Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries flew to Austin for “closed-door meetings,” and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to pursue their own gerrymanders back home.

The hypocrisy is as plain as it is tedious.

As journalist Matt Kittle noted in the Federalist, this brand of protest isn’t just ineffective — it’s absurd. Wisconsin Democrats tried something similar in 2011, fleeing to Illinois to block a bill that curbed public-sector union power. Then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans passed it anyway using a procedural maneuver to overcome the quorum requirement.

Kittle also pointed out the irony: The Democrats’ sanctuary states — Illinois, New York, California — are among the most gerrymandered in the country. Yet those states don’t seem to trouble the “defenders of democracy.”

It’s easy to see why Texas Democrats like Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Al Green want to preserve a system that favors them. What’s harder to see is what they hope to gain from this stunt. They have no leverage. Their absence ensures failure. Even as political theater, it’s weak and self-defeating. It makes them look unserious and incapable of governing.

Rep. Salman Bhojani, one of the Texas Democrats who fled, may not return at all — he reportedly needs to leave the country for a “family medical emergency.” His constituents in Euless should ask: Who’s representing them now?

But most won’t ask. Most don’t even know who Bhojani is. And that’s the deeper problem.

Too many state legislators are anonymous placeholders. They win office by running with a “D” or “R” next to their names. They stay in office because they’ve been there before. Their constituents rarely track their votes or positions — many wouldn’t even recognize their representative if they saw them on TV.

Bhojani faced no opponent in his last election. Apart from donors and staffers, almost no one in Euless likely knows who he is — until now that he’s left the country and quite likely his job.

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Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

So what kind of democracy is this?

If lawmakers go unchallenged, remain largely unknown, and face no accountability for skipping out on their duties, can we really call this democratic representation? And if redistricting efforts aim to align political boundaries more closely with population centers — rather than carve out safe enclaves for party operatives — might that not restore some of the lost accountability?

At present, most lawmakers serve parties and donors, not voters. The party ensures they run unopposed or draws the district to guarantee victory. The campaign is just a formality. Once elected, they vote the party line and maybe dabble in social media branding.

Right now, this is more a problem for Democrats than Republicans. But that could easily flip. Voters of all stripes should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

Republicans in Washington and across red states should follow Texas’ lead: Call the bluff, pass the bills, and begin the work of restoring actual representative government. That’s what voters want — left, right, and center.