Though increasingly competitive for Democrats, the state of Texas remains red, but its far-right Attorney General Ken Paxton recently admitted to white nationalist podcast host Steve Bannon that the threat to Republican dominance in the Lone Star State is voting rights.
Paxton's comments come as the Senate considers another long shot attempt to pass consequential voting rights legislation to offset the voter suppression bills passed by Republican state legislatures across the country, including Paxton's home state.
Watch below.
TX AG Ken Paxton says, “We’re done in Texas if anybody can vote.” He is outraged by new Ct of Appeals decision stripping him of authority to prosecute “voter fraud,” ruling it’s exclusively the job of local DAs. Since there is no appeal, all he can do now is ask for rehearing. pic.twitter.com/2tm9nutkXf
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2022
Paxton told Bannon:
"It's just a matter of, whether it's this time, the next time, the next time, we're done in Texas if anybody can vote."
In the face of conservative fantasies that the 2020 election was "stolen" from former President Donald Trump, Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott, signed into law a so-called election reform bill.
The legislation—Senate Bill 7—includes some of the strictest election laws in the nation that are certain to disproportionately block access to the ballot box among the state's Black and Latino voters. It has eliminated drive-through voting and restricted mail-in voting, all while strengthening protections for partisan poll watchers. Already, the law has resulted in hundreds of rejections for mail-in ballot requests.
Paxton's admission that Republicans would be "done" in Texas if "anybody" could vote generated a wealth of reactions.
Ken Paxton shows how screwed the GOP knows they are in Texas if anybody was able to vote. That's why we can't have online voter registration & Texas can't find the paper to print registration forms. They prove Texas isn't a Red State, it's a suppressed state. We will fight harder https://t.co/HEyQaJoOYe
— Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) January 19, 2022
Ken Paxton again admitted that he helps the Republican party cheat in elections, because they would otherwise lose all the time. https://t.co/WepCMPg2pF
— Bob Resists🌊 (@ResistsBob) January 19, 2022
Correct: Republicans can only win by cooking elections, gerrymandering, vote suppression. Their “agenda” is a fascist police state with an obese, senile dictator. https://t.co/cFFpW8BTyS
— JHC (@earthtoreform) January 19, 2022
This felony-indicted, seditious conspirator @TXAG doesn't mean Texans or Americans when he says "we're done..." https://t.co/urzTfjarir
— Geo Steve (@StephenGlahn) January 19, 2022
It’s a great day for #Texas when Paxton loses and gets all huffy. https://t.co/uxQchjePRS
— Pamela Oldham (@pamelaoldham) January 19, 2022
Dear Ken.
We aren't done with crushing the gop in Texas yet.
Buckle up. https://t.co/VPIQpLtKd0
— Joey Bought A Pepsi. (@BoughtCola) January 19, 2022
Paxton accidentally told the truth.
He said it. Out loud. https://t.co/qXKP290Gb8
— J. Carretto (@StarmapperJoe) January 19, 2022
Like Trump, Paxton unintentionally tells the truth: The GOP is betting its future on voter suppression. https://t.co/Alv1oza7Av
— davidrlurie (@davidrlurie) January 19, 2022
Saying the quiet part out loud. https://t.co/neg0FS3S0G
— Monica Fraker (@FrakerMonica) January 19, 2022
Abbott himself has sought to overthrow people's votes by parroting Trump's election fraud fantasies and even filing a Supreme Court complaint on behalf of Texas to toss out the electoral votes of Pennsylvania.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC