Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, says he is happily harboring runaway Texas lawmakers who are blocking a vote on a contentious congressional redistricting plan. Pritzker also says Illinois may redraw its own congressional maps to partly offset any Republican gains in Texas.
Helping the Texas Democrats evade arrest is his way of “preserving democracy,” Pritzker said Tuesday on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS.
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“Well, Donald Trump is trying to steal five seats from the people, frankly, from the country, not just the people of Texas, and disenfranchise people,” Pritzker told Colbert. “So the great heroes of the Texas Democratic caucus decided the only thing they could do to try to stop it was leave Texas. Where did they decide to come to? The safe haven of the state of Illinois. And we’re going to protect them and take care of them.”
Pritzker is a billionaire who recently said he will seek a third term in 2026. But by focusing his announcement on the president, he added fuel to speculation about a 2028 campaign.
His national forum Tuesday with Colbert was sure to raise his profile among Democratic voters. Colbert is a prominent critic of Trump. CBS canceled his long-running program shortly after he criticized the $16 million the network’s parent company, Paramount, paid to settle a lawsuit in which Trump claimed he had been harmed by the editing of a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS said it canceled Colbert’s show for unrelated financial reasons.
‘Everything is on the table’
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Republicans now hold 25 of the 38 congressional seats in Texas. A redistricting plan could swing five more districts to the GOP.
More than 50 Texas Democrats left the state Sunday to prevent a final vote on a redistricting plan that would create five new districts likely to elect Republicans in the midterm elections next year. Trump requested the changes to preserve the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Republicans already hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats.
If the Texas proposal passes, several Democratic-leaning states may also draw new congressional maps, a process that normally takes place just once a decade.
Colbert asked Pritzker if Illinois — where 14 of 17 members of Congress are Democrats — might adjust its districts to squeeze out Republicans.
“It’s possible,” he said. “I’ve said everything is on the table. We gotta fight fire with fire. They, frankly, tossed the rule book out, and they’re acting in an unconstitutional fashion, and what we’re gonna have to do is whatever it takes to preserve democracy.”
Colbert held up a map of Illinois’ current districts, singling out one that stretches from east to west, then north and back east across a large swath of the state.
“It’s like the stinger on a scorpion down there,” Colbert said. “Is this common for all states to do?”
Pritzker played the question for laughs.
“We handed it over to a kindergarten class and let them decide,” he said.
A Texas roundup
A potential conflict may be brewing between Texas and Illinois.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, asked the state police to track down and arrest the Democrats after the House speaker, also a Republican, issued civil warrants on Monday.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has asked the FBI to round up the lawmakers — an idea that Trump has endorsed.
Pritzker, however, says the Texans will not be arrested in his state.
“As long as they’re in Illinois,” he told Colbert, “they’re safe.”
