While Texas’ U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Donald Trump threaten to send the FBI after Texas House Democrats who left the state to break quorum in the House and stop Republicans’ efforts to force racially-based gerrymandered redistricting on the state, Texas Gov, Greg Abbott is filing suit to have Texas House Democratic Chair Gene Wu removed from office, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is threatening to get the Texas Supreme Court to kick those Democrats out of office, the contingent of Texas Democrats who are making their stand in Chicago are dealing with threats of deadly violence.
The Texas lawmakers were forced to evacuate the hotel where they have been staying after the hotel received bomb threats, according to various news reports. This morning (Wednesday, Aug. 6), Wu, along with Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rep. Ramón Romero and Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Gervin Hawkins addressing the threats.
“This morning, a threat was made against the safety of the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus,” they said. “We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred and unintimidated. We are grateful for [Illinois Gov. J.B.] Pritzker and local and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety.”
Pritzker, a member of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, helped arrange the hotel accommodations for the Texans. He posted a statement this morning saying that he was aware of the threats against the legislators, and that those threats will be investigated. “I have instructed Illinois State Police to ensure we maintain public safety,” he wrote, according to Chicago TV station Fox 26.
The TV station also noted that a press conference with the Texas Democrats and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, set for today in Pottawatomic Park in St. Charles has been canceled due to the threats.
Texas Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston, one of the lawmakers in Chicago now and a lesbian who is a member of the Texas LGBTQ Caucus, issued a separate statement placing the blame for the threats against her and her colleagues squarely on the shoulders of GOP officials in the state.
“… this is the kind of danger that comes from reckless rhetoric. When the attorney general tells people to ‘hunt us down,’ it’s not just politics — it’s a threat to our safety,” Johnson said. “I’ve had my life threatened before as a chief human trafficking prosecutor. I never expected those threats would come from the governor or my colleagues in the Legislature.
“Extremism is dangerous,” Johnson added. “Continuing to go further and further down the path of incitement and intimidation is dangerous. And this is the perfect example. We won’t be intimidated. Texas Democrats are united, resolute and more committed than ever to standing up for the people we represent.
“This moment demands courage — and we’re ready to meet it,” Johnson pledged.
Johnson made headlines earlier this week when she responded to GOP language accusing Democrats of running scared and abandoning their jobs. “Yeah, no. Abandoning your job is going to Cancun in the middle of a deadly freeze, right?” she said, referring to Sen. Ted Cruz who left the state for the Mexican resort in February 2021 when Texas was locked in a deadly winter storm.
“Abandoning your job is cutting health care when people need access. Abandoning your job is cutting public education when we already have one of the worst education systems in the nation,” Johnson continued. “When Donald Trump called Georgia Republicans [after the election in 2020] and said, ‘I just need you to find me 11,000 votes, they said, ‘No sir, that’s a step too far.’ But when he called Texas Republicans and said, ‘I need you to steal me five seats,’ they said, ‘Does July work for you?”
Cornyn and Paxton, by the way, appear to be using the Texas Democrats’ stand to stop redistricting by leaving the state as a political battleground in the two Republicans’ primary race to claim the GOP nomination for U.S. senator in the 2026 election. Paxton has long been a Trump minion, and Cornyn has already started running campaign ads touting his MAGA bona fides.
— Tammye Nash