Dozens of Texas Democrats gathered Tuesday on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to pass voting rights protections a day after the caucus left its home state in a dramatic move to block Republican-led efforts that would make it harder for Texans to vote.

On Monday, more than 50 Texas lawmakers boarded two charter planes bound for Dulles International Airport just outside Washington, where they landed in the evening. Their absence effectively paralyzes the Texas state House of Representatives, which requires a majority of its members to be present in order to move legislation forward.

“We’re buying some time,” state Rep. Chris Turner, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday.

While the U.S. House has passed the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act ― measures that would shore up voter protections amid former President Donald Trump and the GOP’s continued assault on the electoral system ― the bills remain stalled in the Senate, sparking intense debate over the chamber’s filibuster rule. The Texas Democrats view the federal legislation as a way to prevent Republicans from pushing voter restrictions through at the state level; 2021 is on pace to be the worst year for voter suppression laws in a decade.

This week’s dramatic escalation in Texas politics marks the second time this year that Democrats have left the state House in order to halt new Republican voting proposals. In late May, hours before a midnight deadline to pass the bill along to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), a large group of Democrats walked out of the state House en masse.

At the time, they secured a short-term victory against legislation that would place new restrictions on absentee voting, empower partisan poll watchers, ban 24-hour polling sites and make it easier to overturn the results of an election.

In response, however, Abbott called for a special legislative session, which convened late last week. He also vetoed a section of the state budget that funds the Texas Legislature and its staffers ― a decision currently being challenged in court.

This week, Abbott has threatened the Democratic lawmakers with arrest for their actions.

“As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,” the governor told Austin news station KVUE-TV.

The Democratic lawmakers are planning to remain out of Texas through the end of the current special legislative session, which ends Aug. 7. Yet Abbott vowed not to let the matter drop.

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