Hi,

My name is Joe Deshotel and I represent the 22nd State House District in the Texas Legislature. My colleagues and I have been in Washington, D.C. pushing for federal legislation on voting rights. You can help protect the freedom to vote by contributing to the Texas Voting Rights Legal Defense Fund.

Governor Greg Abbott threatened to arrest Texas House Democrats forcing us to leave the state. We chose to go to Washington, D.C. to petition the federal government for legislation to protect our democracy.

This is not about losing a vote on the floor, it's about losing the right to vote for hundreds of thousands of Texans who would be affected by the discriminatory rule changes. And, it's about Texas becoming a becoming template for voter protections instead of one for the suppression tactics we've seen from Republican legislatures across the United States.

Governor Abbott and the Republicans want to take us back to a time when the government made it harder to vote for those who don't support them.

I will withdraw and use these funds to pay legal fees associated with challenging the Governor's unconstitutional abuse of power and disregard for the separation of powers.