amy: texas state representative trey martinez fischer, a democrat representing san antonio. stubbing a voter suppression bill from being passed at least for now. we will continue to cover what happens. coming up next, we look at the cigarette undercounting of deaths of people of color by law enforcement. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

. >> democratic texas state representative trey martinez fischer. good luck this weekend with the austin event. come back anytime. i know this fight is joined and it will not be a short one. come back and keep us apprized, sir. >> thank you, rachel. >> we've got much more to get to this friday night. stay with us. ♪that you laughed about♪ ♪well, the names have all changed♪ ♪since you hung around♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. liberty mutual customizes car insurance welcome back, america. so you only pay for 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.

conclusion that is trey martinez fischer just said, federal action is the only way that we can save the day in texas, and georgia, florida. and for this country. and so hearing the representatives message today and the senior staff, this is such a critically important moment and i hope as he and other senators vote on this, june 21st the procedural vote on the for the people act, they keep in mind just how dire the situation is here in texas. >> trey martinez fisher, nancy pelosi said the other day that she hasn't given up on joe manchin on getting him to the place where he'll do what's necessary to get one of these bills passed. what is your feeling? have you given up on joe manchin? >> no sir. i certainly haven't. as a matter of fact senator manchin didn't go to the senate democratic caucus election day. he was meeting with four other moderate democratic senators talking about voting rights and that's top of mind for senator manchin. and let's be clear he was a former secretary of state.

. >> trey martinez fischer, nancy pelosi said the other day that she hasn't given up on joe manchin, on getting him to the place where he'll do what's necessary to get one of these bills passed. what is your feeling? have you given up on joe manchin? >> no, sir, i certainly haven't. as a matter of fact, you know, senator manchin didn't go to the senate democratic caucus luncheon today. he was meeting with other moderate democratic senators talking about voting rights and this is top of mind for senator manchin. he was a former secretary of state. he understands elections and how they're administered across the country or at least in west virginia. i think what he's learning is that not everybody plays by west virginia's standards, and if we want to protect democracy, which is really a pillar of his position, we are losing our democracy state by state, voices are being silenced in georgia, and now in florida and now in arizona and if we are steam rolled in texas, there is nothing that's going to stop republicans from marching across our country, silencing the voices of voters and what

speaking after the walkout, trey martinez fischer called on the president to do more. >> mr.sident, we need a national response. make no mistake, voting is but a mental. it does not know your color. it does not know who you love. it does not know your zip code. it is our constitutional right, our god-given right to exercise our right to vote. sb 7 would deny that right to many law-abiding texans simply because there were those who only wish to play gotcha politics with legislation stuck and you only have to look at the way they have tried to pass this bill, tried to ram it down our throats. amy: that was texas tech representative trey martinez fischer speaking with other democrats after the walkout. he joins us now from san antonio. welcome to democracy now! can you layout the scene sunday night, why you walked out and whathis bill represents, wha it includes? >> good morning, amy. sunday night was a very emotional day as the president of the united states put the eyes of the nation on texas, calling us un-american. when you get down to it, this is going to have a tremendous

joining us now is texas state representative trey martinez fischer. he led the walk out of texas house democrats that successfully stalled the last anti voting bill. this week, he another state dems have been on capitol hill meeting with senators and vice president harris to advocate passing this voting rights legislation. representative, thank you for being with us. i appreciate you taking the time. >> happy friday. [laughs] indeed. it has been, i know, a big week. and it's likely to be a big weekend with this capitol steps rally in austin on sunday. let me just ask you where you think you are in the fight? how durable you think the victory is that you already achieved in the legislature, you and your caucus? and how hopeful you are about further progress? abou fu>> we're at that crucial moment. you have to go hard or go home. america is now talking about voting rights. we need real reform. we need to have a chance. we're holding the line here in texas. we walked out that but that would be forever. republicans are silencing voices all over this count