Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a third attempt at passing a GOP voting bill on Thursday, calling another special legislative session to begin this weekend as Democrats who left the state weeks ago in protest still remain in Washington.
The announcement was expected and comes as more than 50 Democrats — who scrambled to fly out of Texas on July 12 — were on the cusp of running out the clock on the current special session and torpedoing the sweeping voting package for a second time since May.
“I will continue to call special session after special session,” Abbott said.
He ordered the new 30-day special session to begin Saturday and made a new elections package one of 17 items he instructed the GOP-Legislature to consider, which includes other items sought by conservative activists, including new border security measures and rules over how race is taught in public school.