Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said on Sunday that his state will provide a “safe haven” for the three Texas Democratic legislators who left Austin to deny Republicans a quorum on a contentious mid-decade redistricting plan. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Pritzker declared that “Texas law does not apply in the state of Illinois” and argued that no federal statute authorises the FBI to detain the lawmakers in Chicago at the request of Texas officials. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to have the absent members arrested, and Senator John Cornyn has claimed the FBI agreed to locate them. Pritzker dismissed those statements as political “grandstanding,” calling the visiting Democrats “heroes” for resisting a map he says violates the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. In Austin the confrontation escalated on several fronts. Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to strip the absent Democrats of their seats, while a state judge barred former congressman Beto O’Rourke from assisting them. Republicans need the lawmakers’ return to advance a redistricting plan that could add as many as five GOP-leaning congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections.