From Washington Examiner: Texas House Democrats were evacuated from their Illinois hotel on Wednesday due to a bomb threat.
In a statement, Texas House Democrats said they are safe and “undeterred.” A group of Democratic state lawmakers has been staying in Illinois after leaving Texas to deny their Republican counterparts a quorum to vote on a new congressional map that would favor the GOP even more than the current map does.
Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) said he was aware of the threats made. In statements, Texas state Reps. Ann Johnson and John Bucy pointed to Texas Republican leaders’ rhetoric for the threat.
“I’ve had my life threatened before as a chief human trafficking prosecutor,” Johnson said. “I never expected those threats would come from the Governor or my colleagues in the Legislature.”
“Extremism is dangerous,” she continued. “Continuing to go further and further down the path of incitement and intimidation is dangerous. And this is the perfect example.”
Texas Democrats who fled to Illinois forced to evacuate hotel after bomb threat https://t.co/vjNAAScUnW
— The Hill (@thehill) August 6, 2025
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court seeking to remove House Democrat Caucus Chairman Gene Wu and others.
Breitbart reports:
The Chairman, along with most of his Democrat House colleagues, fled the state to block a quorum in protest of the GOP’s efforts to carry out congressional seat redistricting.
“Today I took emergency action to begin the removal from office of derelict Democrat Texas House members who refuse to show up for the special session,” Governor Abbott (R) wrote in a post on Tuesday. The governor filed the suit directly with the Texas Supreme Court to quickly “make clear the authority I have to bring the lawsuit (for removal of legislators from their offices).”
On Sunday, Abbott ordered the House Democrats who fled the state to break quorum to return to work or he would take action to vacate their legislative seats and appoint replacements, Breitbart Texas reported.
“This truancy ends now,” Governor Abbott said in a Sunday night statement. “The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025.” The governor said he will invoke “Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the absent Democrats from their elected office.”
Today I took emergency action to begin the removal from office of derelict Democrat Texas House members who refuse to show up for the special session. pic.twitter.com/VLpwhfJLQb
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 5, 2025
READ MORE AT WashingtonExaminer.
