Earlier this year, Texas Democratic lawmakers left the state to travel to Washington, D.C., in an effort to deny the state legislature the quorum needed to vote on election integrity legislation. 

They were widely criticized by their Republican colleagues and conservatives throughout the country, while many fellow Democrats praised the Texas legislators for preventing passage of what they considered a discriminatory state election law aimed at suppressing the vote of minorities. 

Two of the Texas Democrats, it turns out, were not in Washington with their colleagues after all. Forbes recently reported that Texas state Reps. Julie Johnson (D-Farmers Branch) and Jessica González (D-Dallas) were instead vacationing abroad in Portugal. 

Forbes pointed out criticism from other state representatives who canceled their family vacations so they could be present for the special session. 

"Wow, just wow," Texas state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Houston) tweeted. "Had to cancel my family’s vacation last week to Grand Teton because of a special session they helped create back in May. Texas deserves better than this."

Forbes also highlighted the fact that Portugal has election laws very similar to the bill that the Democrats are protesting, including no provisions for drive-in voting, a more restrictive ban on mail-in voting, and strict ID requirements. 

While the two members were abroad, they were still collecting their per diem pay, meaning taxpayers are sending Johnson and Gonzales more than $200 a day while they are in Portugal, as reported in the Austin Journal. Bipartisan criticism is already mounting. 

According to a poll from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, 54% of Texans oppose legislators staging walkouts. 

“Most Texans see it as a childish and desperate move, and they don’t like temper tantrums,” TPPF spokesman Brian Phillips said.