Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) announced Sunday that his state would offer protection to Texas Democrats who fled to Illinois in protest of Republican-led efforts to redraw Texas’s congressional districts.
“They’re here in Illinois. We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law,” Pritzker told reporters at a press conference Sunday night held alongside the Texas state lawmakers, per The Hill.
“It’s Ken Paxton who doesn’t follow the law. It’s the leaders of Texas who are attempting not to follow the law,” he claimed. “They’re the ones that need to be held accountable.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s remarks followed the decision by Texas Democrats to flee their state in order to block a quorum — the minimum number of lawmakers required to conduct legislative business — during a special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
Abbott convened the session to advance a new congressional map designed to give Republicans up to five additional seats, a redistricting push backed by President Trump as the GOP prepares for a potentially tough midterm election next year.
A Texas House panel on Saturday approved the proposed congressional maps, setting them up for a full floor vote. With Republicans holding majorities in both legislative chambers and occupying the governor’s office, the maps are widely expected to pass.
In protest, Texas Democrats left the state to block the legislative process, traveling primarily to Democratic-led states such as Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts in an effort to prevent the quorum needed to move the redistricting plan forward.
Meanwhile, Republican officials in Texas, including Abbott’s office, are examining ways to either force Democrats to return or declare them in violation of state laws and abandon their seats.
Also, breaking quorum means that each lawmaker will incur a daily penalty of $500 and the possibility of being arrested. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a post on X earlier Sunday, argued that “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”
Texas Democrats’ decision to flee the state — echoing a similar move during the 2003 mid-cycle redistricting battle — highlights the party’s strategy to use every available tool to block Republican efforts to reshape the state’s electoral maps.
The redistricting fight is fueling the potential for a broader redistricting arms race, as both blue and red states consider revising their own congressional maps—injecting uncertainty into the outcome of next year’s midterm elections.
But that said, most big blue states like California and New York cannot easily change their maps like Texas due to existing laws and state constitutional limits.
Meanwhile, Abbott has warned that Democratic lawmakers who fled the state could face arrest and expulsion if they do not return by Monday afternoon. Shortly after Abbott released his statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a simple response, writing: “Come and take it.”
Fox News reported that Abbott criticized the Democrats’ dramatic departure, starting his call for them to return with, “real Texans don’t run from a fight.”
“Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business,” he wrote.
At least 100 of the 150 members of the Texas House must be present to establish a quorum and conduct legislative business. With around 50 Democratic lawmakers having left the state, the House has been left without the numbers needed to proceed.
Abbott emphasized that casting votes is a fundamental responsibility of elected officials, stating that their participation in the legislative process “is not optional.”
