Former President Donald Trump announced Friday that he supports a bill introduced in the Texas Legislature by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), which he says would “initiate a strong and real Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam.”
In a statement on his website, Trump called the bill’s supporters “Patriots” and also criticized the ongoing forensic audit of election results in four Texas counties, which he called “weak” and inadequate. The Texas Secretary of State’s office announced the four-county audit last week just hours after Trump asked Governor Greg Abbott to add election audit legislation to the special session call. But the announcement of that audit failed to placate the former president.
Trump wrote Friday:
“Just heard Patriots are moving the Texas Audit Bill forward. Texas State Senator Paul Bettencourt filed Senate Bill 47, legislation that authorizes Texans to initiate a strong and real Forensic Audit of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam—not a weak risk-limiting audit that is being slow-walked through the Secretary of State’s office.”
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a great guy, sent the bill to the State Affairs Committee the very same day, and it should quickly pass through the Senate. There is still time for the House to take up the issue in the Third Special session with House Bill 16.”
“I’d like to thank Dan and Paul for their bold leadership, and for listening to Texans who are demanding answers about Nov. 3. Everyone feels certain Governor Abbott will follow suit. This will have a big impact on the upcoming 2022 and 2024 elections in Texas. Texas will always be red, but we must stop the cheating.”
“Keep it up and get this bill over the finish line. Passing the audit bill will be a Big Win for Texas! Let’s make sure the great people of Texas believe and trust their elections.”
Trump’s demands have suddenly revived a chapter of Texas politics that lawmakers had believed to be closed. The fight over “election integrity” consumed the legislature during the late spring and summer, prompting two Democratic quorum breaks and culminating in the passage of Senate Bill 1.
Republicans hailed Senate Bill 1 as making it “harder to cheat, easier to vote.” For their part, Democrats lamented the bill’s restrictions on voting hours, vote-by-mail, and drive-through voting, but they also celebrated that they had won some concessions that improved the final version of the bill, such as reducing the penalty for illegal voting from a felony to a Class A misdemeanor.
Lawmakers of both parties returned for a third special session September 20 with the main focus on redistricting.
On Thursday night, Speaker Dade Phelan said he did not support “re-litigating” the election bill passed in August. He didn’t come out directly against the audit bill that Trump is calling for. Instead, his statement was prompted more immediately by a move by Abbott, who earlier in the day asked the legislature to reverse its August decision to reduce the criminal penalty for illegal voting.
Phelan’s reluctance to revisit the election laws stems in part from a preoccupation with redistricting, which he said must remain the focus of the House members, citing a “constitutional obligation.” The Speaker is also leading a body of part-time legislators who are currently in their fourth legislative session of the year, which has pulled them away from careers and family.
Phelan and other GOP lawmakers have expressed concerns that the highly publicized fight over SB 1 damaged the usual rapport within the body. Revisiting the contentious 2020 election through audit legislation would forestall any healing of partisan fissures in the House and could also trigger another Democrat walkout, imperiling redistricting.
Moreover, if an audit bill is passed into law, it could consume the state with a costly and potentially contentious audit for months.
On the other hand, if Phelan and others in the House GOP decide to oppose Trump’s demands for an election audit, either openly or by slow-walking the legislation, they could come under intense pressure from Trump loyalists both in the legislature and at the grassroots, setting up a potentially damaging intra-party fight ahead of the 2022 mid-terms.
Trump carried Texas in 2020 by a vote of 52.1% to 46.5%. That secured him all 38 of the state’s Electoral College votes. Only one candidate on the ballot won more votes: Senator John Cornyn, who took 5.96 million votes to Trump’s 5.89 million.
