J.B. Pritzker, Gov. of Illinois, speaking on Squawk Box at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 18th, 2023.
Adam Galica | CNBC
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker slammed President Donald Trump as a “cheater” and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “joke” days after welcoming Texas Democrats who fled their state in protest of GOP-led redistricting efforts.
“Governor Abbott is the joke,” Pritzker, a Democrat, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday in response to Abbott calling Illinois’ congressional map a “joke.”
“He’s the one who is attempting mid-decade here — at a time when, frankly, all of us are concerned about the future of democracy. He’s literally helping whittle it away and licking the boots of his leader, Donald Trump,” Pritzker added.
Pritzker also defended himself against allegations that Illinois’ congressional map is gerrymandered. Trump won 44% of the statewide vote in 2024 but Republicans hold only three of the state’s 17 House districts.
“We held public hearings, legislative hearings. People attended them. They spoke out. There was a map that was put out. There were actually changes made to the map. And a map was passed, and it was done at the end of the census, the decennial census. So that’s how it’s done in this country,” Pritzker said.
He went on to say, “This is — it’s cheating. Donald Trump is a cheater. He cheats on his wives, he cheats at golf, and now he’s trying to cheat the American people out of their votes.”
Democratic state legislators from Texas have been huddling in Illinois and other blue states after leaving the state to deny GOP leaders a quorum in the state House. Republicans have repeatedly attempted to move forward with their legislative plans, but have fallen short of the 100 people necessary for a quorum.
Abbott and his Republican allies late last month unveiled plans to draw new congressional district lines in the state that could guarantee their party up to five additional safe Republican seats in Congress. The process of redrawing district lines traditionally happens only once a decade, after the decennial census is conducted.
Abbott has clashed with Democrats in the legislature in the past and GOP leaders in Texas have threatened the Democratic legislators with suspension of pay and civil arrests if they don’t return to the statehouse.
“Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue. That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there,” Abbott told NBC News in an interview Thursday.
Trump has defended Abbott and Texas Republicans’ efforts to draw new maps that favor the GOP, telling CNBC’s Squawk Box, “We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas.”
“I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats,” he added.
During the “Meet the Press” interview, Pritzker also responded to reports that the FBI granted a request from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running for re-election in 2026, to help track down the Democratic state legislators who fled Texas.
“There’s no federal law that would allow the FBI to arrest anybody that’s here visiting our state,” Pritzker said. “So it’s a lot of grandstanding. That’s what this is all about.”
Pritzger was also asked about the war in Gaza and a Senate resolution this week to block arms sales to Israel amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“I think that the resolution that was put up in the United States Senate was an effort to send a message. And it’s the right kind of a message, which is that Israel needs to make sure that the food assistance that ought to go to innocent Palestinians should arrive there,” he said. “And they should do everything in their power to prevent the starvation that I think we’ve all seen.”
