- Title: Three Texas state Democrats who fled to Washington test positive for COVID
- Date: 17th July 2021
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 13, 2021) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAFAEL ANCHIA, DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF THE TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SAYING: "I just want to offer that at the outset of this legislative session, the process was poisoned and it was poisoned by a governor who defunded the legislative branch in violation of both our state constitution, which has very specific language about separation of powers and also what has been developed under the jurisprudence of our US Constitution. When you start the process in such a coercive way, when you say I am going to be the absolute ruler of the state of Texas and defund the legislative branch, you have poisoned the entire process. And we as Democrats, we were united. We said we are going to kill any undemocratic efforts in the state legislature and if that meant leaving the state, we were going to do it." WHITE FLASH SENFRONIA THOMPSON DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF THE TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENFRONIA THOMPSON, DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF THE TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SAYING: "I'm going to tell you why I'm up here. I'm not up here to take a vacation in Washington, D.C. When I look at the African-American museum, I thought about the struggle of my people fought in this country to get the right to vote and that right is sacred to my constituents that I represent back in Houston, Texas. And I'm up here because I don't plan to be a sitting person in that legislature, I'm not going to be a sitting duck. I'm not, I'm not going to be a hostage - as my constituents rights stripped from them. We have fought too long and too hard in this country. And that was a Texan, Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, August the sixth of 1965 that made sure that we had the right to vote and those rights was not going to be infringed upon. But this legislature may have, these Republicans in this legislature may have changed the Messiah from Jesus to Trump, but I haven't. And I'm going to make sure that everything that I can do so that my constituents rights would not be stripped from them because of what they believe. And it's a lie. Trump lost the election and they need to tell the people of this country the truth. And if they won't, I'm going to." PULLOUT TO WIDE OF LEGISLATORS STANDING IN FRONT OF U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING
- Embargoed: 31st July 2021 21:44
- Keywords: COVID-19 Kamala Harris Texas House Demcocrats lawmakers
- Location: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA002EM8B9DZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITOR'S NOTE: REUTERS IS UNABLE TO CONFIRM WHETHER ANY OF THE SPECIFIC LAWMAKERS PICTURED HAVE TESTED POSITIVE. VIDEO/IMAGES ARE FOR GENERIC USE
Three Democratic Texas state lawmakers, who fled to Washington, D.C. to halt a Republican-sponsored election law, tested positive for COVID-19, the Texas State House Democratic Caucus said in a statement on Saturday (July 17).
The three Texas House Democratic lawmakers had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, but tested positive over the last 24 hours, the statement said.
Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds, one of the Democrats who traveled to Washington, told MSNBC on Saturday that the positive test results were cause for caution. "We are taking these positive confirmations very seriously," Reynolds said. "We're following all CDC guidelines and ... we are going to make sure that we don't expose anyone."
COVID-19 cases in the United States have surged over the past week with new cases up 70% and deaths rising 26%.
The Texas delegation has met over the past week with Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional Democratic leaders including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, CBS News reported on Saturday.
(Production: Angela Moore) - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
