* First, some background from AP…
Texas Democrats on Monday prevented their state’s House of Representatives from moving forward, at least for now, with a redrawn congressional map sought by President Donald Trump to shore up Republicans’ 2026 midterm prospects as his political standing falters.
After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using “smoke and mirrors” to assert legal authority he does not have.
The Republican-dominated House quickly issued civil arrest warrants for absent Democrats and Abbott ordered state troopers to help find and arrest them, but lawmakers physically outside Texas are beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities. […]
The impasse centers on Trump’s effort to get five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas, at Democrats’ expense, before the midterms. That would bolster his party’s chances of preserving its U.S. House majority, something Republicans were unable to do in the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first presidency. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’ 38 seats. That’s nearly a 2-to-1 advantage and already a wider partisan gap than the 2024 presidential results: Trump won 56.1% of Texas ballots, while Democrat Kamala Harris received 42.5%. […]
The Texas House is scheduled to convene again Tuesday afternoon.
* River Bender…
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday issued a statement asserting there is no legal basis for the arrest of Texas lawmakers who have fled to Illinois.
Raoul said Texas law enforcement officers lack authority to detain Texas legislators in Illinois based on civil arrest warrants issued by the Texas House. “In Illinois, the rule of law matters, and law enforcement must have a legitimate legal basis to arrest someone,” Raoul said. “Texas law enforcement officers have no authority to hunt down and make arrests of Texas legislators in Illinois based on a civil arrest warrant issued by the Texas House. The Texas House may have managed to issue civil arrest warrants without having a quorum, but those civil warrants carry no weight in Illinois.”
* Texas Dems held a press conference with Gov. Pritzker, DNC Chair Ken Martin and Illinois Democrats in the suburbs this morning…
Reporter: There are three Republicans in the state delegation here in Illinois, you can’t undo what is happening in Texas if that is successful with five Republicans being added there, what’s the extent of the pushback that you could have here in Illinois…
Pritzker: Look number one, we’re very happy to host these heroes and stand up with them, for them. Here in the state of Illinois, it is possible to redistrict, it’s not something that I want to do. It’s not something that any of us want to have to do. We’re hoping that this will be successful, that the fact that there’s no quorum in Texas will be successful. But once again, we’re fighting for democracy. There are no rules anymore, apparently, and so we’re going to have to play by the set of rules that are being set out in front of us. Which, frankly, none of us believes is the right way to operate. And what Congressman Green said is right. This is unconstitutional. This is about standing up for people’s voting rights and standing up for Black and brown people who are going to be iced out by what Donald Trump and Greg Abbott are trying to do. So here in Illinois, we’ll do everything that we can to support that endeavor.
[From Rich: Nominating petitions are already circulating starting today. Remapping would throw a huge monkey wrench into the state process, undoubtedly forcing a delayed primary. It would also require an almost immediate special session. And that means Chicago teachers and transit activists would demand special session action on their priorities. I just don’t see it happening.]
* WGN…
Illinois republicans were quick to claim hypocrisy.
“Gov. Pritzker broke his promise to Illinois voters not once but twice for signing one of the most gerrymandered maps in the nation,” said state senate minority leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove). […]
Pritzker, who once campaigned promising to support efforts to take the mapping pen out of politicians’ hands, eventually supported the maps produced by his fellow democrats.
The governor now claims democratic dominance in state elections has little to do with districts being drawn in their favor.
“The fact we are very good in Illinois about delivering for the people of Illinois and the people of Illinois react to that and vote for our candidates is very different than cheating mid-decade and re-writing the rules because their cult leader Donald Trump tells them to do it,” Pritzker said in response to reporters’ questions.
[From Rich: The governor did break his promise on the remap, but only on state maps. He wasn’t asked about federal maps. Also, the new Texas map is being blasted for allegedly violating the Voting Rights Act. Illinois’ congressional maps did not face that challenge.]
* Daily Herald…
About 30 Texas Democrats, including House Minority Leader Gene Wu, sought sanctuary in Illinois on Sunday. They landed at O’Hare International Airport then immediately headed to the DuPage Democratic office by car and charter bus for the news conference, [DuPage County Democratic Party Chair Reid McCollum] said.
McCollum believes Pritzker’s staff considered the office because of the success the organization has had turning DuPage County Democratic.
“This was an opportunity to highlight the Democratic success in the area,” he said.
While he wouldn’t give specifics, McCollum acknowledged the Texans are staying in the West suburbs.
* CNN…
Democratic Texas State Rep. Lulu Flores said that she and several other members of the Texas delegation who traveled to Illinois “plan to stay as long as it takes” in an effort to stall the aggressive Republican redistricting push back home.
“You just heard that the special session lasts til August 19. That’s the very least time that we expect to be out here,” Flores said in an interview on CNN.
Flores said that she hoped efforts by Democratic governors in states such as California, New York and Illinois to pursue their own redistricting plans in response to the developments in Texas would ultimately dissuade Republicans.
…Adding… The Illinois Freedom Caucus…
The Illinois Freedom Caucus says it is time for Governor Pritzker to stop the media stunts and send the Texas Democratic lawmakers hiding in Illinois back to Texas.
In an effort to prevent a quorum in the Texas Legislature and delay important votes, Texas Democratic lawmakers are hiding out in Illinois at the invitation of Gov. JB Pritzker. The Illinois Freedom Caucus is calling on Pritzker to stop the kabuki theater and focus on the problems facing Illinois residents instead.
“Our offices are flooded with phone calls about rising utility bills – bills that have gone up thanks to JB Pritzker’s radical green energy policies. The unemployment rate in Illinois is one of the highest in the nation. And Illinois now has the highest property taxes in the country. We have serious problems in our state and what is our Governor doing about it? Not a thing. All he is doing is trying to bolster his fledgling presidential campaign by harboring truant, derelict legislators from Texas who refuse to do the job they were elected to do. JB Pritzker seems to have an obsession with aiding and abetting fugitives, whether they be criminal illegals or truant Democratic lawmakers.
The idea that these legislators would seek refuge in Illinois because of “partisan” legislative redistricting is the very definition of irony given that Illinois’ own maps look like a 3-year-old drew them in crayon. The faux outrage must be called out. If JB Pritzker and these fugitive lawmakers really cared about their constituents, they would go home and get back to work.”
* More…
* The Hill | 5 things to know on Texas’s political showdown: This isn’t the first time Texas Democrats, who have long been a minority in the state chambers, have turned to this strategy to try to stall a particularly controversial plan state Republicans were proposing. They fled in 2003 when Republicans were pursuing an earlier middecade redistricting plan and again in 2021 to try to stop a bill to implement new voting restrictions. In both cases, the proposals were delayed but ultimately passed. The quorum break comes in the middle of a 30-day special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), after President Trump put pressure on Texas to redraw lines and boost GOP numbers. Democrats could try to run out the clock on the current session but couldn’t keep Abbott from calling another.
* Tribune | Texas Democrats who left state prevent vote, for now, on Trump’s efforts to add GOP House seats: “This is not just rigging the system in Texas,” Pritzker said Sunday. “It’s about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come.” U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas urged other Democratic governors to join Pritzker, Newsom and Hochul. Democrats, Veasey said, have too often “shown up to a gun fight with good intentions, no knives.” But “that era is over,” Veasey declared Monday from Illinois. “We are not going to unilaterally disarm.”
* WBEZ | Texas Democrats ready to stay in Illinois ‘as long as it takes’ to fight GOP congressional maps: At a news conference at the IBEW Local 701 headquarters in Warrenville, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi called the situation a “man-made catastrophe for democracy” while standing alongside some of the 40 Texas Democrats taking refuge in Illinois. He also said it was a chance for Democrats to show constituents they are willing to stand up against Republican incursions into political norms, after criticisms of responses by Democrats to recent power grabs from Trump and state Republicans. “We have to recognize we’re at this crossroads,” Krishnamoorthi told the Sun-Times on Monday night. “Democrats can either play nice, or we can say if they go down that path, two can play at that game.”
