Texas House Democrats flee to Chicago to deny GOP’s congressional redistricting effort – Chicago Tribune

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Opting to use what Texas politicians called a nuclear option, dozens of Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives arrived in Chicago on Sunday under threat of fines, arrest and removal from office to deny Republicans the quorum they need to redraw five congressional districts aimed at helping President Donald Trump and the national GOP maintain its narrow U.S. House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

A supportive Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker met the Texas Democrats after they landed Sunday evening at O’Hare International Airport. At a late-night news conference, Pritzker praised the Texans for displaying “a righteous act of courage” as he called Trump a “cult leader” and “would-be dictator.” The Illinois governor also criticized Texas Republicans for using a special legislative session in Austin, aimed at providing relief for last month’s flood victims in the state’s Hill Country, to please Trump and use it “as political cover to push through a racially gerrymandered congressional map.”