democratic texas state representatives, trey martinez fischer and jessica gonzÁlez representative martinezfisher, the focus on joe manchin and senator cinema seems to be more vivid every day as you fight this battle in texas. what would you ask of them if you could speak to them tonight? >> thank you lawrence, we're in the fourth quarter this is a now or never moment for voting rights in america. we need every men and women to stand up for america with a senate deadlock at 50 50, the ballots of our democracy lies in the hands of senators manchin and senator cinema. this is time to take a step forward for our country, our democracy depends on you. we need you to be here for our democracy. let's end the filibuster, let's

texas representatives jessica gonzalez, and julie johnson thank you for joining us tonight. and that is tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour" with brian williams begins now. >>> well, good evening once again. day 183 of the biden administration. the house speaker and the republican leader in the house are now at war over the investigation into the 1/6 riot and trashing of the capitol after nancy pelosi took an unprecedented step and said no to two of the republicans that had been named to that committee. details on that significant development in just a moment. but there's new insight tonight into the former president's take on the violent efforts on january 6th. let's not forget to overturn the election he lost. newly released audio that comes to us from pulitzer prizewinning germism duo carol leonnig and phil rucker of "the washington post," they interviewed trump at mar-a-lago back in march for their book "i alone can fix it."

texas representatives jessica gonzalez, and julie johnson thank you for joining us tonight. and that is tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour" with brian williams begins now. >>> well, good evening once again. day 183 of the biden administration. the house speaker and the republican leader in the house are now at war over the investigation into the 1/6 riot and trashing of the capitol after nancy pelosi took an unprecedented step and said no to two of the republicans that had been named to that committee. details on that significant development in just a moment. but there's new insight tonight into the former president's take on the violent efforts on january 6th. let's not forget to overturn the election he lost. newly released audio that comes to us from pulitzer prizewinning

office joining us now is jessica gonzalez, vice chair of the committee on elections and texas state representative julie johnson. good evening to both of you, thank you for being here. representative gonzalez, you and i have had this conversation before in which we describe how this is a solution in search of a problem. but they jumped the shark on this one, the 13 counties they're investigating, three of them colin, dent in, and montgomery county voted for trump in a state that donald trump won. are we now really relocating elections for the sake of it or once you've glommed on to the big lie you can't get off that train, you just have to keep counting votes? >> yes. from the very beginning, during the rioters session when it started in january, it became clear to me and many of my fellow democratic colleagues in the texas house that republican leadership would attempt to pass some sort of harmful voting suppression legislation that was based on the big lie. that somehow donald trump actually won the election in 2020. and when we spoke up about it,

democratic texas state representatives, trey martinez fischer and jessica gonzÁlez representative martinezay as you fight this battle in texas. what would you ask of them if you could speak to them tonight? >> thank you lawrence, we're in the fourth quarter this is a now or never moment for voting rights in america. we need every men and women to stand up for america with a senate deadlock at 50 50, the ballots of our democracy lies in the hands of senators manchin and senator cinema. this is time to take a step forward for our country, our democracy depends on you. we need you to be here for our democracy. let's end the filibuster, let's pass voting rights, let's get back to the people on doing their government and doing the government for america. >> representative gonzales, you've had a big win in what you've managed to knock out of this legislation, that plan they had about making it easy to overturn elections, that's been thrown out of this legislation that they are advancing. the sunday morning voting, they're not trying to prevent that now, it will continue to go on the way that it

. >> representative jessica gonzalez, i'll come to you next.e worst provisions in this bill? >> there are several provisions in the bill that are egregious. but i want to speak to the provisions that involve partisan pollwatchers. provisions that empower untrained partisan pollwatchers -- while at the same time -- to control their behavior. the only way that they can remove a pollwatcher is if they violate a certain provision in the texas law, which is a high threshold. so just intimidation alone is not sufficient. the election's judge must observe the actual behavior. so a voter alone reporting this behavior is not sufficient to rise that threshold. and the pollworker must've already given one warning. so they get one free threaten, the pollwatcher. even if they know that that pollwatcher has been problematic in the past. and so what republicans are doing is that they're not only making the hoop smaller, but they're also wanting to pick who the referees are. >> let me follow up with you on something because when the texas democrats, you won a

. >> brisco cain was asked by one of your colleagues, jessica gonzalez, about this very point about your own secretary of state has said this was a free election. what are we solving for? what is this complicated state of legislation proposed by republicans solving for? he said what a lot of people have been saying in this country, why wouldn't we want to solve that fraud if we can? >> yeah. it's interesting that you talk about our secretary of state. in the state of texas, the secretary of state is appointed by the governor. this is governor abbott's appointee. when it came time for her to be reappointed to her post, guess what? they wouldn't confirm her. the senate decided, never mind, we don't want to do that. she's a little too honest for our party. it's interesting for people to say things like we are the good christian party. we are the party of everything that is right. yet they do everything that is wrong. brisco, they took that bill away from him. it doesn't matter who all has the bill, they are doing the bidding of the governor. they're just soldier force the governor the last

joining me to talk more about this, and what democrats with do is texas representative jessica gonzaleztive director at next gen. representative, i want to start with you, the texas' sos's office declared it was free, fair, safe and secure, yet we're trying to affirm false narratives by texas republicans that somehow the election was stolen. where do they go from here? we're sees the same thing we saw during the regular session. -- still -- you know, puts more restrictions on texas voters. as democrats, we understand what this fight means, right? this is a fight against our democracy, so we're going to continue to do whatever it takes to try to defeat this bill. that's what i keep hearing, we're going to do whatever it takes. the question is, can you defeat this bill? and then there's the federal response. instead of trying to appeal they're trying to bend or break the rules to do anything they can to hold onto power. it took the passage of the voting rights act, and more to protect the rights for communities of color in this state. we are so desperate as communities of color, where we

thank you for joining us and jessica gonzalez.p us posted on what the plans are. >>> but now, in the immortal words of juvenile back that thing up. that's next. there's an america we build and one we explore. one that's been paved and one that's forever wild. but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure. you get both. introducing the wildly civilized all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l ♪ ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ liberty mutual customizes car insurance to so you only pay forogy what you need. how much money can liberty mutual save you? one! two! three! four! five! 72,807! 72,808... dollars. yep... everything hurts. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ what makes new salonpas arthritis gel so good for arthritis pain? salonpas contains the most prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. it's clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription

texas representatives chris turner, jessica gonzalez, diego bernal, and senfronia thompson, thank youor joining us. up, next we'll talk to some of the democratic parents who brought their very young children to washington with them and we will do a little fact check on texas republican attacks on skipping work. let's just say a state legislator is not like a united states congress person. >> and if my colleagues left behind children and sick loved ones and they left behind their day jobs and they took health risks to be here because there is an active pandemic but none of these are results in the fight for voting rights. ng rights. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. (realtor) the previous owners left in a hurry, so the house comes with everything you see. follow me. ♪ (realtor) so, any questions? (wife) we'll take it! (realtor) great. (vo) it will haunt

to prevent a quorum in the state house, democratic estate ripives jessica gonzalez and tray fisher. good to say you. i want to ask about your colleagues who tested positive for break throughcovid while in d.c. how are they doing? >> they're doing well. they're isolated and trying to get some rest. >> any sense of how they got it? >> i'm not aware of how they tested positive for covid. it is a good reminder for those folks who have not gotten vaccinated to get vaccinated. i mean, we knew it was a risk, you know, gathering here in d.c. as a large group. we followed the recommended guidelines. but this was -- it was a risk that was worth taking for us. in order to, you know, to continue fighting for our right to vote back in texas. >> all right. representative fisher, let's talk about what you both came here to talk about. you've been in d.c. since monday talking to leaders trying to shore up federal support to protect voting rights. can you tell us about the conversations that you've been having? >> well, our visit's been nothing short of awesome. you know, we've been well received in