“Texans are fed up with corporations that don’t share our values trying to dictate public policy. The majority of Texans support maintaining the integrity of our elections, which is why I made it a priority this legislative session.”
The Lt. Governor of Texas slammed American Airlines on Thursday evening after the airline released a statement condemning the state’s new legislation to secure elections. The company later admitted they never read the bill in the first place but still chose to condemn it.
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"Earlier this morning, the Texas State Senate passed legislation with provisions that limit voting access," American Airlines said in a statement Thursday morning. "To make American’s stance clear: We are strongly opposed to this bill and others like it."
"Any legislation dealing with how elections are conducted must ensure ballot integrity and security while making it easier to vote, not harder," the company continued in their statement. "At American, we believe we should break down barriers to diversity, equity and inclusion in our society – not create them."
Yet it has been revealed that American Airlines chose to repeat opponents talking points instead of doing the basic research for themselves. The Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, said the statement released by American Airlines left him "stunned."
"As Lt. Governor of Texas, I am stunned that American Airlines would put out a statement saying 'we are strongly opposed to this bill' [Senate Bill 7] just minutes after their government relations representative called my office and admitted that neither he nor the American Airlines CEO had actually read the legislation," Patrick said. "We heard these same outcries claiming voter suppression in 2011 when Texas passed the photo voter ID bill. In fact, just the opposite occurred. Voter turnout in Texas soared from 7,993,851 in 2012 to 11,144,040 in 2020, a 39 percent increase. Gubernatorial election voter turnout has increased by 76 percent since photo voter ID was passed."
"Texans are fed up with corporations that don’t share our values trying to dictate public policy. The majority of Texans support maintaining the integrity of our elections, which is why I made it a priority this legislative session," Patrick added. "Senate Bill 7 includes comprehensive reforms that will ensure voting in Texas is consistent statewide and secure."
The Lt. Governor ended the statement by acknowledging that American Airlines has been at the forefront of leftist activism in Texas throughout the years and even led the fight to allow boys to play in girls’ sports in 2017.
"By the way, this is the same American Airlines that in 2017 led the fight to try to force us to allow boys to play girls sports in Texas and take away their scholarships," Patrick said. "They are probably still fighting for that today and it is likely they have not read Senate Bill 29 either."
It’s unclear why corporations like American Airlines, release statements expressing political views on that run contrary to the facts. Lt. Governor Patrick said that the state of Texas has achieved higher voter turnouts since the implementation of new voting laws.
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