The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, criticized President Donald Trump as a “cheater” and the governor of Texas Greg Abbott as a “joke” days after welcoming the Texas Democrats who fled his state in protest for the redistribution efforts of Gop districts.
“Governor Abbott is the joke,” Pritzker, a Democrat, told “Meet The Press” of NBC News in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday in response to Abbott by calling the Map of the Illinois Congress as a “joke.”
“He is the one who tries in the mid -decade here, at a time when, frankly, we are all concerned about the future of democracy. He is literally helping Whittle and licking his leader’s boots, Donald Trump,” Pritzker added.
Pritzker also defended himself against accusations that the Map of the Illinois Congress is Gerrymander. Trump won 44% of state votes in 2024, but Republicans have only three of the 17 districts of the State Chamber.
“We carried out public audiences, legislative hearings. People attended them. They spoke. There was a map that was published. Actually changes in the map were made. And a map was approved, and was held at the end of the census, the decenal census. This is how it is done in this country,” said Pritzker.
He continued to say: “This is, he is cheating. Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats his wives, deceives the golf, and is now trying to deceive the US people of their votes.”
Texas democratic state legislators have curled up in Illinois and other blue states after leaving the State to deny Republican leaders a quorum in the House of States. Republicans have repeatedly tried to advance with their legislative plans, but they have been short of the 100 people necessary for a quorum.
Abbott and his Republican allies at the end of last month presented plans to draw new lines of the Congress district in the state that could guarantee their party up to five additional insurance republican seats in Congress. The process of redrawing the district lines traditionally occurs only once a decade, after the decenal census is carried out.
Abbott faced the Democrats in the legislature in the past and the leaders of the Republican Party in Texas have threatened democratic legislators with suspension of salaries and civil arrests if they do not return to the state house.
“The Democrats act as if they were not going back while this is a problem. That means they will not return to 2027 or 2028, because I am going to call a special session after a special session after a special session with the same items of agenda there,” Abbott told NBC News in an interview on Thursday.
Trump has defended the efforts of the Republicans of Abbott and Texas to draw new maps that favor the Republican party, telling Squawk box of CNBC: “We have the opportunity in Texas to collect five seats. We have a very good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas.”
“I obtained the greatest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats,” he added.
On Sunday, former attorney general Eric Holder, who fought against the state maps of the Gerrymander Congress as head of the National Committee of Democratic Redistites, also spoke to “meet with the press” about the Texas Distriction Redistribution Plan and the proposal of the governor of California Gavin Newsom so that his state would respond in kind.
“What I said is that we have to protect our democracy now if we finally want to be able to save it,” said Holder Sunday. “And so, taking the reasonable measures that have been proposed in California, I think it makes a lot of sense at this time, a temporary way of responding to what is happening in Texas, with the idea that after this crisis has passed, we return to the fight against gerrymandering on the part of any person.”
Holder emphasized his opinion that any next Democratic Gerrymandering should be an answer to Texas, not a permanent way of drawing district lines.
“If Texas had not moved in the way they seem to be, California would not be doing what they are doing,” said Holder. “What the Democrats are doing is receptive and temporary.”
During the “Meet The Press” interview, Pritzker also responded to the reports that the FBI granted a request by Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, which is postulated for re -election in 2026, to help locate the state legislators who fled Texas.
“There is no federal law that allows the FBI to arrest anyone who is visiting our state,” said Pritzker. “So it is very great. That’s what all this is about.”
Pritzger was also asked about the war in Gaza and a Senate resolution this week to block weapons to Israel in the midst of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“I think that the resolution that was presented in the United States Senate was an effort to send a message. And it is the correct type of message, which Israel needs to ensure that the food assistance that should go to the Palestinian innocent should get there,” he said. “And they should do everything within their reach to avoid hunger that I think we have all seen.”
