Texas Democrats tell St. Sabina congregation they are fighting for democracy
At 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday morning, parishioners at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham welcomed three Texas Democratic lawmakers who left their state last week to disrupt GOP attempts to redraw U.S. House district maps.
As she stepped up to the pulpit, Texas Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins began to cry.
“We ran right into the fight,” Gervin-Hawkins said. “We’re fighting against this racist gerrymandering.”
Gervin-Hawkins was joined by fellow Reps. Ron Reynolds and Charlene Ward Johnson at the service, along with U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.
On Aug. 3, dozens of Texas Democrats fled to Illinois, Massachusetts and New York from the Lone Star State to deny Republicans a quorum needed to approve new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm election.
Since arriving in Illinois, Texas lawmakers have had two bomb threats reported at the St. Charles hotel and conference center where they are staying.
St. Sabina pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, said that although the proposed map changes can seem like something that is just an issue in Texas, Illinois must fight to protect the lawmakers who have sought protection in the state.
“There is a madman in the governor’s office in Texas,” Pfleger said. “When so many are being silent, your witness is a civic lesson.”
The Texas House of Representatives, which has a strong Republican majority, has issued civil arrest warrants for lawmakers who fled the state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered state troopers to search for and arrest the representatives, but as of now those lawmakers who are beyond state lines are beyond the warrant's jurisdiction.
Appearing Sunday on "Meet the Press," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responded to reports that the FBI granted a request from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to help track down the Democrats 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."
The Texas officials who left the state, however, still face fines of up to $500 per day.
“What we’re fighting for is democracy,” Gervin-Hawkins said. “They’re hunting us down like animals.”
“They’re trying everything, but guess what? It only energizes all of us,” she said.
Texas Democrats say the redistricting would disenfranchise Black voters and completely wipe out minority-majority districts. The proposed maps would group residents of liberal Austin in the same district as rural Texans more than 300 miles away, and move Democratic strongholds in Dallas and Houston into neighboring Republican districts.
Michael Eric Dyson, an author and professor at Vanderbilt University, welcomed the Texas lawmakers at the Mass and said that Republican lawmakers in Texas have “chosen money over the meaning of American democracy.”
Dyson called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “spineless” and said the proposed redistricting would disempower Black and Latino voters.
“They want to get rid of us, but we’re not going nowhere,” Dyson said. “We must stand with those who are fought against. We need to stand up, and speak up for justice.”
It is unclear how long the Texas Democrats will remain out of their state, but Gervin-Hawkins said it was clear they need the American public’s support to keep going.
“Your prayers will keep us strong,” she told the St. Sabina congregation.