The ‘Killer Bees’ offer a strategic roadmap for Texas Democrats’ latest quorum break

When it comes to breaking quorum in the Legislature, Texas has a history. In 1979, a dozen state senators nicknamed the “Killer Bees” used filibustering tactics and eventually left the Capitol and hid from Texas Rangers for four days. At stake then was a GOP-backed bill to shift the timing of the Texas presidential primary to boost former Gov. John Connally’s chances. The House Democrats camped out in Washington this month are following much the same playbook — this time to block Republican legislation on how elections are run. “We’re not going to sit in Austin, in the House chamber, and watch the Republican majority steamroll the voting rights of my constituents,” said Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

At the Democrats’ first press conference at the U.S. Capitol, an original “Killer Bee” was there to lend his support: U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. “I was a young state senator then, they used to call me the ‘baby senator,’” the congressman recalled with a smile. “We had a really bad legislative session where we were opposing a lot of anti-consumer legislation…. After some discussion, 12 of us agreed to leave — I think 10 of us ended up in a converted two-car garage.” A walkout that was initially supposed to be only a few hours turned into four days at that garage apartment. The Republican bill they were blocking, an elections bill, was trying to change how the presidential primaries worked in Texas. “They sent the Texas Rangers out after us. They claimed they were going to bring us back in chains and all this,” Doggett said. “And finally, after I think four or five days, they agreed to pull the bill down and not to pass it.” The legislators earned the “Killer Bees” moniker for their efforts. The lieutenant governor at the time, Bill Hobby, came up with the nickname, a reference to fears that Africanized bees were invading the U.S. There was a series of famous Saturday Night Live skits in the late 1970s satirizing the panic.