Kamala Harris: Democratic lawmakers organizing Texas walkout are 'standing for the rights of all Americans'

• Kamala Harris on Monday voiced support for Texas Democrats' plan to flee the state.
• They plan to leave the state to block GOP bills by preventing the needed legislative quorum.
• Harris said the lawmakers showed "extraordinary courage and commitment."

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday voiced support for Texas Democrats' plan to flee the state en masse to prevent the legislative quorum needed to move forward with GOP bills, including new voting restrictions.

"I applaud their standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote unencumbered," Harris said Monday at a voting-rights meeting in Detroit, according to CBS News reporter Tim Perry.

"They are leaders who are marching in the path that so many others before did," she added. "When they fought and many died for our right to vote."

Harris also said the Texas lawmakers showed "extraordinary courage and commitment," Perry reported.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, convened a special legislative session on July 8 to push through a list of conservative priorities, including voting reform. Republicans in state legislatures across the US have pushed new and harsher voting restrictions in the wake of the 2020 election, when many states expanded voting access because of the pandemic.

Other priorities in the special session include legislation focused on access to abortion, social-media companies, transgender youth, and the teaching of critical race theory in schools, Insider's Grace Panetta previously reported.

Texas Democrats walked out of the last legislative session to stop the passage of a voting bill that would've introduced criminal penalties for elections officials.