Harris calls runaway Texas Democratic legislators ‘American as apple pie’

Vice President Kamala Harris heaped praise Tuesday on dozens of Democratic Texas state legislators who flew to Washington rather than take part in a special session at which election reform legislation was to be considered.

“Defending the right of the American people to vote is as American as apple pie,” said Harris, who went on to compare the lawmakers’ actions to women’s suffrage and civil rights marches. Earlier in the day, the legislators shrugged off Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s threat to have them arrested for refusing to take part in the special session, holding a news conference at which they performed an off-key rendition of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”