Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the New Hampshire Democratic Party McIntyre-Shaheen Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., April 27, 2025.
Sophie Park | Reuters
Democratic lawmakers on Sunday defended their colleagues’ efforts in Texas to counter a GOP-led redistricting push, and chided President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott over what they argue is “cheating” and “outrageous.”
“[Abbott’s] the one who is attempting, mid-decade here, at a time when, frankly, all of us are concerned about the future of democracy, he’s literally helping whittle it away and licking the boots of his leader, Donald Trump,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told NBC News.
Pritzker — whose state has become a haven for Texas Democrats protesting the GOP-led effort — rejected the idea that congressional maps in Illinois are politically gerrymandered, arguing that the maps were redrawn after the census, which, he said, is “how it’s done in this country.”
“This is … it’s cheating,” he said of the proposed Texas redistricting. “Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives, he cheats at golf, and now he’s trying to cheat the American people out of their votes.”
In a statement, the White House criticized Pritzker and said that the governor was “embarrassed” when “he was outed as a hypocrite for overseeing the worst example of cheating in his state,” communications director Steven Cheung said.
The feud over the redrawn congressional maps in Texas has escalated in recent days, as Democratic lawmakers left the state to prevent Republicans from having a quorum in the state House. In Texas, a quorum is the number of members that need to be present in order to conduct business, according to the Texas House’s website. Two-thirds of the elected members constitute a quorum in each house.
The new maps could boost Republicans’ chances of picking up five House seats in the state, giving the GOP an edge in what will likely be a razor-thin battle for control of the lower chamber next year.
While Republicans in Texas press forward with their bid for new maps, Democratic lawmakers also said Sunday that the party has “got to fight back” against the redistricting plan.
“Trump is the one who came up with the idea,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with Democrats, said on CNN of redistricting.
“It is undemocratic, it is outrageous,” he said, while adding that Democrats “have no choice” but to fight back against the effort.
“If Republicans are doing it, you have to respond, it’s pathetic, but I think you have to respond,” said Sanders, who has opposed gerrymandering in the past.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Fox News that “these times call for fighting fire with fire,” and suggested that the redistricting fight is taking place because Trump is concerned about next year’s midterm elections.
“Why are we here today? Because Donald Trump looked at the polls for next year,” she said.
Abbott, meanwhile, slammed the Democratic lawmakers who fled his state and again claimed that they will be arrested upon return.
“If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol,” he said on Fox News. “If they want to evade that arrest, they’re going to stay outside of the state of Texas for literally years.”
Abbott also threatened to keep the Texas legislature in a special session indefinitely until the matter is resolved.
“I’m authorized to call a special session every 30 days. It lasts 30 days. And as soon as this one is over, I’m gonna call another one, then another one, then another, then another one,” the governor said.