Chicago – In an extraordinary movement to counteract the redistribution of republican districts in Texas, dozens of Democrats in the State House of Representatives are directed here on Sunday to deny a necessary quorum so that the Republican Party advances with those efforts.
The approximately 30 Democrats are expected to remain for the week in a negotiated plan with the governor of Illinois JB Pritzker, who had met with the Caucus of Texas at the end of last month and has ordered the personnel to provide logistical support for their stay. A press conference with the Governor and the Texas Democrats It is expected later on Sunday.
“We are going to Texas to fight for the Texans,” said Gene Wu, president of the Democratic Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives, in a statement. “We will not allow disaster relief to be hostage of a Trump Gerrymander. We are not leaving our responsibilities; we are coming out in a manipulated system that refuses to listen to the people we represent. As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”
Last week, Texas Republicans published a new map of the proposed Congress that would give the Republican party a way to collect five seats in the middle of the period next year. The public pressure of President Donald Trump followed for a new map in the state while working to retain a majority in Congress in what is historically a difficult year for the party that celebrates the White House.
The proposed map would change the lines of the district so that the current Democratic members of Congress in Austin, Dallas and Houston would be directed, as well as two Democrats already in danger of extinction representing districts of southern Texas that Trump took last year.
A camera committee approved the maps of the Gerrymander Congress in a vote of the party line on Saturday morning. After the vote, the president of the committee, the Republican state representative Cody Vasut, told NBC News that the maps were attracted to help the Republicans win more seats.
“This map was based politically, and that is totally legal, totally allowed and totally fair,” said Vasut. “You have states like California and New York and Illinois that have these really large margins between the percentage of seats they have and the percentage of votes they are obtaining, and Texas has a lower performance in that. Therefore, it is totally prudent, totally correct, that Texas can respond and improve the political performance of their map.”
Wu’s statement said the democrats movement “is not a decision that we make lightly, but it is one that we do with absolute moral clarity.”
“Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historical tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump,” Wu continued. “It is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of black and Latin tejanos, all to execute a corrupt political agreement. Apathy is complicity, and we will not be complicit in the silencing of the working communities that have spent decades fighting for the power Trump wants to steal.”
Politically, the measure puts Pritzker in the center of a national high profile fight. The governor, who is postulated for his third term in office, is also widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender. He has implored the Democrats to resist the Trump agenda.
The origins of Pritzker’s participation began when the governor gave an opening speech to Oklahoma Democrats in June. Pritzker met privately at a “robust” meeting with the president of the party to talk about the redistribution of Texas districts, according to a person close to the governor. When Pritzker later met with Texas Democrats, he assured them that they could come to their state and find support, including the search for hotels, meeting spaces and other logistics assistance.
Texas Democrats, however, face the risk of a fine of $ 500 per day and even a possible arrest for fleeing the State. The Legislature controlled by the Republicans approved the measure in 2023, two years after state Democrats left the State for three weeks to block an election bill.
“Democrats have to stand at this time and tell each individual in this nation:” This is not normal. This is not democracy, “said Democratic state representative Ann Johnson a NBC News on Saturday.
“You have these Texas Republicans who just turn around and give Trump what he wants because he asked for it,” Johnson said. “It is an affront to all citizens, not only in Texas but also in the nation.”
Texas’s house is scheduled to meet at 3 PM CT on Monday. The draft redistribution bill is so far the only element in the calendar.
Natasha Korecki reported from Chicago, and Ryan Chandler of Austin, Texas.
