00:00Please help me welcome our good friend, Congressman Marcus.
00:06Thank you, Representative.
00:09And, you know, the press, y'all been getting something wrong.
00:12I've been seeing a lot of headlines that say that these Texas legislators are fleeing.
00:17These Texas legislators ain't fleeing.
00:20These Texas legislators are fighting.
00:23They are fighting corruption.
00:25They are fighting racism.
00:27And they are fighting rigging.
00:29And that is what it is all about.
00:33And I've got to tell you, it's crazy to think about this.
00:36Sixty years ago today, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 declared that no American, no black American, no Latino American, no Asian American,
00:47no working class voter would ever be denied their voice in our democracy because of who they are or where they live.
00:54But that promise is under attack today by Greg Abbott bending a knee to Donald Trump.
01:02And it is absolutely wrong and it is embarrassing.
01:05And I've got to tell you, I'm proud of these heroes that are standing behind me, some of which are my former colleagues in the state legislature where I spent eight years before going to Congress.
01:17And I've got to tell you, I came into Congress right after the 2003 mid-decade redistricting when a group of Democrats had just left the state to block discriminatory redistricting.
01:32That had happened literally just before I was sworn in.
01:38And I've got to tell you, we made a big mistake back then.
01:40We had no blue states back during that time period after Tom DeLay did his mid-decade redistricting.
01:49We didn't have any Democratic states that followed suit.
01:53And so it gave them the incentive to do it again.
01:55And that's why we are here right now.
01:57But I've got to tell all of my friends that are Republicans that are out there watching right now, the game has changed, baby.
02:05It ain't the same no more.
02:07It ain't the same no more.
02:08We are going to match Donald Trump's energy when it comes to redistricting.
02:16As it was said before, it's been Democrats, we have shown up to a gunfight with nothing but good intentions and dull knives.
02:24And that era is over.
02:26We are not going to unilaterally disarm.
02:30And that is, that's what's different this time around.
02:34And so to the governor of this state, of Illinois, the governor of California and New York, thank you for standing tall with us.
02:42We need our other Democratic governors in New Jersey, New Mexico, Maryland, not New Mexico, Jersey, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington.
02:53We need for them to stand with us now also.
02:57This is serious business.
03:00This is absolutely serious business.
03:03Democracy is at stake here.
03:05And we have to keep fighting Donald Trump each and every step of the way.
03:10With that, I now call back to the podium Representative Harold Dutton, who I serve with out of Houston.
03:17Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
03:18Harold.
