‘We will hide them at our own legal peril’: DuPage Democratic leader pledges to protect Texan lawmakers
DuPage County Democratic Party Chair Reid McCollum didn’t get wind of the plan to put his group’s Carol Stream office in the national spotlight Sunday until the night before.
McCollum was home in Hinsdale watching a Harry Potter movie with his family Saturday when a member of Gov. JB Pritzker’s staff texted and asked if the space was available for a news conference by runaway Texas Democrats.
He had been following the Texas political drama, which saw about 50 state lawmakers flee the state to block a vote on a controversial redistricting plan that likely would give Republicans more seats in Congress. But McCollum had “no clue” they were going to seek refuge in Illinois — and certainly not in his home county.
“It was fantastic,” McCollum said Monday.
About 30 Texas Democrats, including House Minority Leader Gene Wu, sought sanctuary in Illinois on Sunday. They landed at O’Hare International Airport then immediately headed to the DuPage Democratic office by car and charter bus for the news conference, McCollum said.
McCollum believes Pritzker’s staff considered the office because of the success the organization has had turning DuPage County Democratic.
“This was an opportunity to highlight the Democratic success in the area,” he said.
While he wouldn’t give specifics, McCollum acknowledged the Texans are staying in the West suburbs.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, called a 30-day special session to reshape the state’s congressional districts. President Donald Trump had pressed the state to redraw the lines to boost GOP membership in Congress.
The Democrats’ absence from the session means there aren’t enough state legislators in Austin to conduct business. They risk fines of up to $500 a day for breaking a quorum, as well as possible arrest and extradition.
If the Texas Democrats are trying to run out the clock on the session, McCollum said they’re welcome to stay in DuPage County for the duration.
“I will dig a bunker and stock it,” McCollum said. “We will hide them at our own legal peril, until hell freezes over if need be.”
Illinois Republican leaders have issued statements criticizing Texas Democrats for walking out on their jobs and Pritzker for inviting them here despite breaking promises to veto partisan-drawn political maps in this state.
DuPage GOP chair Kevin Coyne urged the Texans to return home.
“Illinois is already cursed with far too many Democratic politicians who don't do their jobs,” Coyne said. “We don't need to import more.”
Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi said Pritzker “can lead the charge against gerrymandering by getting his own house in order and fixing Illinois’ rigged maps.”
McCollum said the situation in Texas is different from Pritzker’s approval of gerrymandered maps in 2021 because Texas is taking action between the decennial censuses that traditionally provide data for the political mapmaking process.
Democrats want fairly drawn maps, McCollum said — but one party can’t be held to that standard if the other is creating blatantly gerrymandered maps “in the middle of a decade.”
• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.