Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday afternoon that he will not be throwing the first pitch at the Texas Rangers home opening, as scheduled, due to Major League Baseball’s response to the laws. recently approved voting in Georgia.
“I was eager to launch the first pitch in the inaugural Texas Rangers game until @MLB adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about Georgia’s electoral law reforms. It’s a shame that the American pastime is influenced by partisan politics., “the republican governor he tweeted.
In an additional statement, Abbott said he will not “participate in any MLB-organized events and the state will not attempt to host the All-Star Game or any other MLB special event.”
On Friday, MLB announced that this summer’s All-Star Game was moving from Atlanta in response to a new Georgia law that has civil rights groups concerned about its potential to restrict access to voting for people of color.
Commissioner Rob Manfred made the decision to move the All-Star Game and events, along with the amateur draft, from Atlanta after discussions with major individual players and the Players Alliance, a black players organization formed after the death of George Floyd last year.
Last month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a powerful, Republican-sponsored law that includes new restrictions on postal voting and greater legislative control over how elections are conducted. The bill, which also prohibits volunteers from distributing food and water to voters waiting in line, was finalized on March 25 about 15 miles from Braves Stadium, Truist Park.
The new voting law came as a result of the first Democratic victories in the presidential and Senate elections in Georgia in a generation, which triggered repeated unproven claims by former President Donald Trump that state elections were fraudulent. Proponents of the new law have said it only guarantees the integrity of the election and eliminates possible fraud, while critics have described it as a tactic of suppressing voters that would make it difficult for minorities to vote, especially people from color, citing how the vote reduces access to urban communities that favor Democrats.
In his statement Monday, Abbott punished MLB for “perpetuating false political narratives.”
After going 1-2 on a road series that opened the season against the Kansas City Royals, the Rangers will return to a crowd at Globe Life Field to open their game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday afternoon. .
This report uses information from ESPN’s Alden González.