Pritzker says redrawing Illinois district map "on the table" in response to Texas redistricting push
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker welcomed dozens of Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the Lone Star state Sunday to prevent the state legislature from getting a quorum and passing a redistricting plan even more favorable to Republicans than what already is in place.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session, which had been set to start Monday afternoon, to take up several matters — including relief for victims of the catastrophic flooding, and a new map that Republicans unveiled last week as part of a mid-decade redistricting in an attempt to keep the GOP's razor-thin margin in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In July, President Trump said he believes the redistricting could lead Republicans to win five more seats in Texas by flipping them from Democrat to Republican. The House currently has 219 Republican representatives, 212 Democratic representatives and four vacancies after three Democrats died in office and one Republican resigned in July.
By not being in the state, the Texas Democrats denied the GOP lawmakers a quorum to advance the new map. They successfully blocked the special session scheduled for Monday, and what had been expected to be a rubber-stamp vote on the redistricting plan.
Texas Republicans have responded by approving civil arrest warrants for their Democratic colleagues, and threatening to have the missing lawmakers removed from office altogether. Democratic legislators have remained defiant.
"The tool they are using is a racist, gerrymandered map, a map that seeks to use racial lines to divide hardworking communities who have spent decades building up their power and strengthening their voices," said Texas State House Minority Leader Gene Wu at a news conference in Carol Stream on Sunday. "And Governor Abbott is doing this in submission to Donald Trump."
Pritzker had arranged for a group of about 30 Democratic lawmakers to stay in Illinois this week. Pritzker also said he has considered whether Illinois should respond by redrawing its own map in Democrats' favor, as "everything has to be on the table."
"Trump came up with a new scheme to rig the system by ramming through a corrupt, mid-decade redistricting plan that would steal five congressional seats, silencing millions of voters, especially Black and Latino voters," Pritzker said.
In an interview with CBS News' Ed O'Keefe, lawmakers signaled they're prepared to stay out of their state for two weeks, the length of the special session in Austin.
"Greg Abbott has answered the call of Donald Trump, and he's holding this special session hostage to try to pass a mid-district, mid-session redistricting to try to steal five congressional seats away from the Texas people," state Rep. John Bucy, the top Democrat on the Texas House's elections committee, said of the Texas governor. "That's unacceptable, and that's why we're here to fight back."
Late Monday, the Texas Democrats took a private bus to the IBEW Union Hall in west suburban Warrenville. Inside, they stood in unity for their cause.
"If they succeed in Texas, they will take this to other states," said U.S. Rep. Al Green ID-Texas).
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the Democratic state lawmakers' flight cowardly, adding they should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Texas State Capitol immediately.
"We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law," Paxton wrote on social media.
But Texas lawmakers said they will not back down.
"We're not running from anything," said Texas state Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston). "We're trying to make sure that democracy is in Texas, it is going to be of the people, by the people, and for the people."
The Texas lawmakers have the support of Illinois Democrats.
"Stay as long as you want," said U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois). "We believe in what you're doing."
The Democratic Texas lawmakers also said they hope to convince blue states that have Democratic control of their state legislature and governor's office to threaten retaliation and make the Texas Republicans back down.
But Illinois may not be in a position to retaliate.
"I don't think you can gerrymader them anymore," said former Illinois Republican Party chairman and political analyst Pat Brady. "We are the most gerrymandered political map in the country right now."
Democrats have control of 14 of Illinois' 17 congressional seats. Illinois last redrew its congressional map in 2021, which Republican lawmakers criticized.
"I tell my friends the game has changed," said U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas). "We are going to match Donald Trump's energy when it comes to redistricting."
But redrawing congressional districts outside of the normal "every 10 years" rule, as Texas Republicans are doing, is a very rare move and politically risky.
"This is bad politics, political behavior on both sides," Brady said. "You shouldn't be rigging the game so you win, you should be delivering results for your constituents."
If the maneuvering sounds familiar, that's because in 2011 14 Wisconsin Democrats left their state to Rockford, Illinois to delay a vote on a collective bargaining bill.
The Texas Democrats are in Illinois at Pritzker's invitation, and he has signaled he's helping them stay here as long as they need.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is often at odds with fellow Democrat Pritzker, said he appreciated what the governor is doing but added, "The South and West sides could use that same level of energy."
This is not the first time such maneuvering has happened among a state's lawmakers, and has involved Illinois. In 2011, 14 Democratic lawmakers from Wisconsin fled to Rockford to delay a vote on Republican-backed legislation to strip state employees of their collective bargaining rights.