Abbott Opens Texas G.O.P.’s Push to Limit Voting and Reshape the State

Calling a special session of the Legislature, Gov. Greg Abbott commenced a fierce political clash as state Republicans seek to restrict voting, transgender rights and how racism is taught.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Wednesday kicked off a high-stakes political fight over the state’s future, formally announcing a special session of the Legislature in which he and fellow Republicans will try to push Texas further to the right on issues like elections and voting, transgender rights and how racism is taught in schools. The special session, set to begin on Thursday, follows an already ultraconservative legislative session this spring, when the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a near-ban on abortion and a law permitting the carrying of handguns without permits, running roughshod over protests from Democrats, business coalitions and civil rights groups in an often strictly party-line manner. But the Legislature failed to pass one of the governor’s signature priorities for the session — a sweeping election overhaul bill that would have been one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country — when Democratic state lawmakers staged a dramatic late-night walkout that deprived the House of a quorum and temporarily killed the bill.