 I'm not up here to take a vacation in Washington, DC. Democracy is at stake. I left because I am tired of sitting as a hostage in a house of representatives while Republicans strip away the rights of my constituents to vote. We had no other option. Over the weekend in Austin, hundreds gave public testimony in marathon all night hearings with critics calling the GOP-backed bills an attack on minority voting rights. All of my constituents' desires were denied. We heard rumblings that they actually were planning to lock the chamber. They were going to hold us in there until those bills got passed. Texas state Democrats fled the state as GOP lawmakers tried to pass new voting restrictions. How they stayed in state, Texas Rangers could have rounded them up and returned them to the Capitol. And we can't stay here indefinitely. We're not doing this for Democrats. We're doing this for Republicans. We're doing this for independents. That's why we need Congress to act now and pass the For the People Act. And we hope that they will hear us and they will act to pass the For the People Act before the August 6 recess. We said we are going to kill any undemocratic efforts in the state legislature. And if that meant leaving the state, we were going to do it. We don't believe that one constitutional right deserves greater deference than the other. They're no greater than the other. They all deserve equal consideration and equal protection. I'm not going to be a hostage. We had the courage to take a stand. And Congress, we need you to finish it. Our citizens can't wait any longer. We have fought too long and too hard in this country. We will not go back. We come too far. And we're not going to give up now.