June 29, 2016 5:18 PM

SB: The Davis abortion filibuster was almost nothing like the Democratic sit-in for gun control

Greg Abbott helped put the Legislature in a situation where the Davis filibuster became inevitable; insiders say he had assured Rick Perry a special session on redistricting would be quick and easy

Last week’s sit-in by Democrats in Congress trying to pressure Republicans into votes on gun control measures drew many quick comparisons to the filibuster of sweeping abortion regulations three years ago by former Sen. Wendy Davis. On the surface, the similarities are easy to see. Yes, Democrats were live-streamed on the internet speaking passionately about a divisive issue for hours on end.

Lost in those comparisons is the fact that the events were nearly complete opposites in this key respect: Davis and Texas Senate Democrats were mainly using the rules available to the minority – rules that were undermined but still preserved by the Republican majority – while Congressional Democrats last week were straight up breaking the rules for the sake of hard-earned publicity.

The filibuster by Sen. Davis came at the end of the first special session in 2013 called by former Gov. Rick Perry, who had collaborated with then-Attorney General Greg Abbott to essentially order the Legislature to ratify redistricting maps. Abortion was not on the table at first. The story from insiders is that General Abbott had assured Gov. Perry it would be a quick process and the whole special session might only last for days instead of weeks.

As the Senate got started on that, the leadership decided field hearings would be appropriate considering the state’s political districts are perpetually under court challenge.

By Scott Braddock