Raoul warns Texas police against arresting Democrats who fled to Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has warned Texas authorities that police cannot come into his state and arrest Texas Democrats who fled the Lone Star State to stymie a vote on a redrawn redistricting map.

More than 50 Texas Democratic state lawmakers left the state to deny the Republican-controlled legislature from achieveing a quorum needed for a special session in which they would vote on a congressional district map. Many arrived in Illinois,

welcomed by Gov. JB Pritzker.

A Texas House panel on Saturday advanced the set of maps, teeing them up for a vote on the House floor. Because Republicans enjoy majorities in both chambers and hold the governor’s mansion, the maps are all but assured to pass.

The special session did not happen as scheduled because of the Democrats’ absence. It was intended to provide disaster relief for victims of Texas flooding earlier this year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has threatened to remove the legislators from office for job abandonment, and the Texas House Speaker issued civil arrest warrants.

“In Illinois, the rule of law matters, and law enforcement must have a legitimate legal basis to arrest someone.  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,” Raoul said in a statement Tuesday. “The Texas House may have managed to issue civil arrest warrants without having a quorum, but those civil warrants carry no weight in Illinois.” 

The Texas Democrats appeared alongside Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for a press conference Tuesday morning.

“This is a new Democratic party,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. “We are bringing a knife to a knife fight, and we are going to fight fire with fire.”

Pritzker appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night to defend his state’s heavily gerrymandered congressional maps, which favor Democrats.

“So because all states to a certain extent do this, why is what Texas [is] doing particularly egregious in this case?” Colbert asked.

Pritzker said voting maps are traditionally redrawn after each U.S. Census, every 10 years, and criticized the Texas legislature’s midterm effort.

“That is extraordinarily rare,” Pritzker said. “And the way they are doing it is taking voting rights away from Black and Brown people. They are literally obliterating districts that were written according to the Voting Rights Act. So this is going to end up in court if they are actually able to do it.”

In response, California and New York have threatened to redraw their legislative maps to cancel out Republican gains in the Lone Star State.

On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Democrats in his state are pursuing plans for mid-decade redistricting, which could be “triggered” depending on what happens in Texas.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said she was exploring “every option” to redraw congressional lines and reviewing legal strategies “to stop this brazen assault.” 

“You have to fight fire with fire,” she said, adding, “all’s fair in love and war.”

Republicans currently hold a narrow 219-212 majority in the U.S. House.