Texas Democrats Call On 22 Texas Republicans To Resign; State GOP Rejects It
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas Democratic Party announced Monday, Jan. 18, that its Executive Committee is calling for 22 Texas Republicans to resign, accusing them of trying to overthrow the will of the people and inciting the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
In an interview Monday, the state's Democratic Party Chair, Gilberto Hinojosa said, "There has to be consequences for this. And we believe these people need to resign or be removed from Congress."
The party wants Senator Ted Cruz, who led a group of Republicans in the Senate to object to certifying the 2020 election, to step down.
Cruz denounced the violent attack that day, and said the next day that Democrats were playing politics.
Democrats also want the 16 Texas Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the election to leave office along with Attorney General Ken Paxton, who spoke at a rally near the White House on January 6, hours before the rioting at the Capitol.
Hinojosa said, "This responsibility lays squarely on Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and all these Republicans that fed this narrative, knowing that it was a lie."
But Texas Republican Party Chair, retired Lt. Col. Allen West, pointed to the violent protests in Washington, D.C. after President Trump's inauguration and those by Antifa and Black Lives Matter over the summer.
West called Democrats hypocrites.
"We can go back to 2017, we can go back to 2005, when we saw Democrats are the exact same thing that was done with the challenge of the electors. They don't have the same type of standards that they want to hold themselves accountable to."
Hinojosa though said this time is different because when Democrats lost the White House previously, their Presidential candidates conceded.
"This was a national concerted effort by Republicans all across the country to raise questions as to the legitimacy of this election. And it fed into the narrative that Mr. Trump was worth putting out. And all these people got all riled up."
West said Democrats are trying to silence their opposition.
"There's a certain group of people that are now saying, you can have not free speech, but you can have acceptable speech and acceptable speech means that that is what we consent to. And we will allow you to say, you cannot go out there and squash political opposition speech, that is fascism. And that's what I see happening."
In the past week, Senator Cruz has kept a lower profile, but he has said he's not going anywhere and won't be stepping down.
His office said he will attend Wednesday's Inauguration.
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