00:00Thank you so much, Representative Hawkins, and I am here to say thank you.
00:13I am Lizzie Fletcher, and I have the privilege of chairing Texas's Democratic congressional delegation in the 119th Congress.
00:20So on behalf of all of us, I'm here to say thank you to Governor Pritzker, thank you to Lieutenant Governor Stratton,
00:26thank you to Chairwoman Hernandez, thank you to the Illinois congressional delegation members who are joining us here today
00:32and who have been welcoming our friends and colleagues and heroes from Texas here in Illinois.
00:40It is good to be back in Illinois.
00:42I was last here about a year ago, and I headed home to Texas after a pretty big convention,
00:50feeling hopeful for democracy and inspired by what I saw here in Chicago, here in Illinois.
00:58And I returned to Illinois last night feeling the same kind of hope and feeling a real inspiration,
01:07because what we see here happening in Illinois is the fight for our democracy, is the fight for America,
01:14and the people standing here today are on the front lines of that fight.
01:18These are the fighters for our democracy, and they are helping give a voice to all Texans and all Americans.
01:25And it's Democrats who are leading that fight.
01:28They are the ones fighting for democracy here in Illinois and across our beautiful country.
01:33So I also want to thank the head of the Democratic Party, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
01:39Ken Martin, who's here with us today, who we already heard from.
01:42I'm here to say thank you to him, too, because he knows what we know.
01:45You know, in Texas, we're used to saying everything's bigger in Texas, and it's a pretty big state, 254 counties, 30 million people.
01:55But we know that this is bigger than Texas.
01:58And Chair Martin, everyone in Illinois and people across the country are standing up and standing up with us.
02:03So I'm here to say thank you to all of them.
02:06And I'm here to say thank you for standing up for our country, for America, for the land of the free and the home of the brave.
02:16And I am here today to thank the brave.
02:20And that is the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus who are here in Illinois, who are fighting the fight on behalf of Texans and all Americans.
02:30Representative Hawkins, Representative Romero, are such great examples of the incredible members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus who have been working tirelessly to protect the rights of our fellow Texans and of all Americans.
02:50And the Texas House Democrats have taken a courageous stand.
02:55Make no mistake, they are here despite aggressive threats from our governor, from our attorney general, and from others who are threatening them.
03:04They are coming here at great sacrifice and at great risk.
03:08But let's make one thing clear.
03:11They are here to do their jobs.
03:14And they are doing their jobs by being here.
03:22They are protecting our fellow Texans from the racist and illegal maps that the governor and the Texas legislature are trying to rush through at the behest of President Trump.
03:33They are here standing up for the millions of Texans whose voices will be taken away if these maps are enacted.
03:42And it's important to know that in Texas that means taking away the voices of minority voters who are the majority in our state.
03:53And with it, with all they are doing, it's important to understand this.
03:58We have, and I'll say just very briefly for those who need to know, we have 13 Democrats in Congress out of a delegation of 38.
04:06And all 13 of those Democrats who have been elected to the United States Congress are elected by a coalition of minority voters.
04:15And those are the only members of Congress who are consistently and reliably the candidates of choice of minority voters in Texas.
04:24And this map wants to take away five of those five of those opportunities for minority voters to have their say and elect their candidate of choice.
04:36And, you know, in Texas, we have a long and shameful history of discrimination against minority voters.
04:44We all know about the white primaries that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 1944 and the other racist tactics to prevent people from exercising their right to vote at the ballot box.
04:56And tomorrow, we will celebrate the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act that said that people who live in states like Texas cannot do that anymore.
05:07But ever since the Voting Rights Act was enacted, Texas has been found in congressional map after congressional map and legislative map after legislative map to have violated the rights of Texans,
05:19of minority Texans who have historically been discriminated against in our state.
05:23So it is absolutely critical that we use our voices and our opportunity now to explain that this map, this proposal violates the Voting Rights Act.
05:35It is an illegal racial gerrymander.
05:38And in Texas, those things are synonymous.
05:39When the GOP does a partisan gerrymander, it is a racial gerrymander.
05:45There is no difference in Texas.
05:46And it's important for everyone to know that this isn't just politics.
05:49This isn't just politics.
05:50So it's important that everyone across the country know and understand that we're fighting for the rights that are enshrined in the Voting Rights Act
05:58and that are the rights of every single American to have a say and the ability to exercise their right to vote in our country.
06:06And so Texas Democrats are here to do that.
06:08And I am so proud to see my representatives, my friends and colleagues taking a stand for all Texans.
06:14And with it, with the stand they're taking, they're inspiring the nation.
06:19And that's important because we need to know across the country what's happening and what's at stake.
06:25Over the last six months, we have seen an unprecedented and un-American power grab by the White House.
06:33And we've seen Republicans in Congress and now Republicans in Texas at every turn, letting it happen and sometimes cheering it on.
06:43Well, Democrats aren't going to do that.
06:45Democrats are not going to let it happen.
06:47And while Republicans are surrendering, Democrats are fighting.
06:52Texas Democrats are fighting.
06:54And every American can and must fight back.
06:58They're not going to let it happen.
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