San Antonio Democrat comes back from Washington D.C., says he’ll try to improve GOP voting bill

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State Rep. Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio, returned to Texas on Wednesday and said he and a small group of Democrats will work to improve the controversial voting bill that lawmakers have flown to Washington DC in protest. “I proudly stood with my Democratic counterparts and left Texas to make sure House Bill 3 did not go through as envisaged,” Cortez said in a statement emailed to him. “A small working group of Democrats decided to start active discussions here in Austin on improving HB 3 and asked me to come back to establish open lines of communication.” Cortez added that he wanted to “have a good faith dialogue” to share of the bill that would harm voters. Democrats criticized the measure and a similar proposal in the Senate, saying the law would strip local election officials of their authority and allow partisan election observers to intimidate voters. “We must move this struggle through parallel paths in Texas and Washington DC with one goal in mind: unrestricted and open access to voting for all Texans,” said Cortez. However, other Democrats deny Cortez’s claim that he is negotiating on their behalf. “He made the decision to rejoin the Republicans without speaking to the Democratic delegation,” tweeted State Representative Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, in response to a report on Cortez’s return. To be clear, he is not negotiating on our behalf the decision to rejoin the Republicans without speaking to the Democratic delegation. In a statement to the television broadcaster KSAT, State MP Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, accused Cortez of breaking his covenant with other members of the local democratic delegation. “The Bexar delegation has all made a face-to-face commitment,” said Bernal. “Phil hurt that. He left under cover of night without telling us. Gone. He knew what he was doing.” Stay up to date with the news and views from San Antonio. Sign up for our weekly headline newsletter.

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