The Republican president leapt from a window in an attempt to break quorum. James Talarico’s chartered flight featured leather seats and flight attendants.
Texas state representative James Talarico (D.) compared himself to Abraham Lincoln while touting his party’s walkout to block Republican efforts to pass a new congressional map. But while the Great Emancipator attempted to break the quorum by jumping out of a window, Talarico did so by fleeing the Lone Star State in a private jet.
“We are in Illinois, and it’s appropriate because this is the land of Lincoln. And Abraham Lincoln actually broke quorum back in 1840 when he was a state senator by jumping out of the window of the Illinois state capitol,” Talarico said Tuesday on Pod Save America.
“Thankfully, I didn’t have to jump out of any windows in Texas, but we are joining a long tradition in America of standing up to bullies, of speaking truth to power, of causing good trouble,” the Democrat added. “And I know my colleagues and I are proud to do this work regardless of what consequences may come.”
But Talarico’s exit was far more luxurious than Lincoln’s leap. He was among the Texas Democrats who on Sunday boarded a 76-seat private jet operated by CommuteAir and flown out of a “state-of-the-art” private terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, as the Washington Free Beacon reported. Talarico even announced the walkout from the tarmac.
The chartered flight likely cost around $30,000 and featured “comfortable 2×2 leather seating, two lavatories, ovens for hot meals, and two experienced flight attendants at your service.”
Texas Democrats left the state to deny their Republican counterparts the quorum needed to pass a new congressional map. Two-thirds of the Texas House’s 150 members must be present to pass a bill, meaning at least 51 of 62 Democratic members must leave the state to break quorum.
Beyond their stylistic differences, Talarico’s retelling of Lincoln’s attempt to break the quorum was inaccurate. While in the state house—not the state senate, as Talarico asserted—Lincoln indeed tried to flee a vote by jumping out of a window but failed to break quorum while doing so because he’d already been counted as “present.” This led the former president to regret the episode, according to historian Sam Wheeler.
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (D.) accused Texas Republicans of “attempting to cheat” by redrawing their state’s congressional boundaries to carve out additional districts likely to elect Republicans. Yet Pritzker was the driving force behind Illinois’s house map, which is widely regarded as one of the most gerrymandered in the country.
Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) responded to the Democrats’ exit by ordering state authorities to arrest the lawmakers who fled.
“Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans,” he said Monday.
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