Nationwide—and here in New Hampshire—Democrats are cheering the Texas legislators who fled their state to stop action on a plan to redraw congressional district maps. Their tactic is simple: deprive the GOP-controlled House of a quorum, preventing the body from conducting the people’s business.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said the DNC “is standing shoulder to shoulder with them every single step of the way.”
“This is not the Democratic Party of your grandfathers, which would bring a pencil to a knife fight,” Martin added. “This is a new Democratic Party. We’re bringing a knife to a knife fight, and we’re going to fight fire with fire.”
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley also praised the walkout in a post on social media.
“Texas Democrats are doing their damn jobs. They’re standing up for the voices of their constituents. There’s nothing more American than calling out corruption and defending the will of the voters.”
The Texas Democrats are pleased with their own actions as well. Rep. James Talarico compared his actions to Abraham Lincoln who, he says, once broke quorum in the Illinois legislature by jumping out a window. “Thankfully, I didn’t have to jump out any windows in Texas,” Talarico said Wednesday.
However, some Granite State Democrats grumble that the state’s GOP majority recently passed a series of bills progressives consider just as offensive as a partisan gerrymander—banning sanctuary city policies, expanding Education Freedom Accounts, prohibiting sex-change treatments for minors, and more. Why didn’t local Democrats follow in their Texas colleagues’ footsteps and block a quorum in Concord?
One reason is that the rules regarding achieving a quorum in the two states are significantly different. Texas requires at least 100 members of the 150-member House to be present in order to conduct business. If enough members are absent to bring the count below two-thirds, legislative action grinds to a halt.
Not so in New Hampshire, as Rep. Keith Ammon (R-New Boston) points out. The state’s constitution allows the House to convene with a simple majority, though some actions require a two-thirds majority of those present.
“This is why New Hampshire Democrat state reps will never flee the state to avoid a vote as they’re doing now in Texas,” Ammon posted on social media. “New Hampshire resolved that potential problem over 240 years ago.”
Setting aside partisan politics, Republican attorney Richard Lehmann says the contrast between New Hampshire and Texas shows why the Granite State’s system is smarter.
“Here, it’s pretty simple. If a quorum is 50 percent plus one, then the minority (which by definition is less than 50 percent) cannot bring the conduct of business to a halt. The only thing they would accomplish by absenting themselves is forfeiting their ability to argue the other side of whatever question is under consideration.”
Not that Granite State Democrats haven’t tried.
“Though such theatrics are uncommon, both parties have used walkouts to deny quorum in state legislatures from Oregon to New Hampshire,” the Associated Press reported this week, referencing a story originally covered by NHJournal.
New Hampshire Democrats had a rough 2020 state election cycle. Despite Joe Biden’s decisive win over President Donald Trump, it was the only state in the nation where Democrats lost control of both chambers of the state legislature. Republicans gained a net 57 seats, securing a 213-187 majority.
During the COVID-era House session that followed, Democrats watched in frustration as Republicans passed bill after bill in a session held at the Bedford Sportsplex.
When Republicans brought the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act” to the floor—mandating “medically appropriate and reasonable” care for any baby born alive, including during a failed abortion—Democrats balked.
“The Democrats are going home now,” then-House Democratic Leader Renny Cushing (D-Hampton) told Speaker Sherm Packard (R-Londonderry). As Democrats rushed to leave the venue and deny Republicans a quorum, Packard sprang into action, ordering the doors closed to maintain a quorum.
The quorum held, though a number of Democrats defied the order—and even state police—to exit the venue.
“WE BUSTED THROUGH THE POLICE TO LEAVE!!!!” then-Rep. Nicole Klein-Knight (D-Manchester) posted on Twitter. “S*** JUST HIT THE FAN, SPEAKER UNLAWFULLY LOCKS US IN THE SPORTSPLEX.”
But Democrats had miscalculated. Not only did House Republicans have a quorum, but the Democrats’ exodus left the GOP with a supermajority inside the chamber. Once they realized their error, the fleeing legislators demanded to be let back in.
Packard declined.
“They made the choice to walk out,” he said.
While the Texas Democrats are being feted in Massachusetts and Illinois, Ammon said their argument that shutting down the legislature is “saving democracy” is nonsense.
“They’re disputing the will of the people. They are in the minority for a reason,” Ammon said. “Plus, it’s embarrassing.
“No descendant of those who fought at the Alamo would run from a fight and flee the state,” he added.
