Texas Democrats who sought refuge in Illinois for two weeks to block passage of new Republican-friendly congressional maps in their state returned home Monday, in their words, “victorious.”
The departure marked the end of a nationally-watched standoff between the lawmakers and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who pushed the remap plan at President Donald Trump’s urging in a bid to add five additional Republican seats in the U.S. House.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker played host to the group and celebrated their arrival here as a symbol of Democratic resistance to GOP “cheating,” aimed at tilting the 2026 mid-term congressional elections in Republicans’ favor.
Abbott threatened to have the Texas lawmakers here arrested and to have them forced out of office, though neither happened. Trump said he would mobilize the FBI to force the group back to Austin. Texas sued in a downstate Illinois court to compel police to assist in arrest efforts here, but a judge last week rejected that bid.
The group had stayed at a hotel and conference center in St. Charles and faced two bomb threats.
“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu said in a prepared statement.
“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left,” he said. “Our return allows us to build the legal record necessary to defeat this racist map in court, take our message to communities across the state and country, and inspire legislators across the country how to fight these undemocratic redistricting schemes in their own statehouses.”
Pritzker had hinted that he might try to answer Abbott and Trump’s moves in Texas by calling a special legislative session in Illinois to redraw four-year-old congressional maps here that give Democrats a 14-3 advantage over Republicans.
But so far, Illinois’ governor has not followed through. The state’s congressional map has been recognized as being among the most Democratic-friendly in the country and wresting away any additional congressional seats from Republicans would be next to impossible, some redistricting experts told WBEZ.
This past weekend, some members of the group headlined an anti-Trump rally in Millennium Park.