Pritzker Models Solidarity

No red, no blue; just fighting fascism

Maryland GovPics - Iron Workers Delegate Dinner; CC

This piece was solicited…and then killed because it wasn’t sufficiently fun or bipartisan. This is a major problem for writing for mainstream media, which in general is leery of alienating conservative readers and worries that stark discussions of our fascist crisis will lead people to tune out.

I am unfortunately reluctant to lie to readers about what I think or to soft pedal the dangers we’re facing…which means I can’t get gigs. So, if you find this piece or my writing in general helpful, consider becoming a subscriber and supporting independent journalists who are…well, reluctant to lie to readers or soft pedal the dangers we’re facing. It’s $5/month, $50/year.

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“There are no red states or blue states, just the United States,” President Barak Obama famously declared. Since Obama, the US has only become more partisan, and the differences between right and left leaning states only seem more stark. At the same time, though, the ongoing fascist crisis, and Trump’s assault on the Constitution, has made the need for solidarity between people of every state more and more important.

We got an example of what that solidarity might look like this week, as Democratic state legislators in Texas boycotted their state. The Republican majority in the Texas legislature called a special session to redraw congressional maps mid-decade, rather than waiting for the new census as per democratic norms. The GOP plans to gerrymander the state to create five more Republican safe seats by dividing Black and brown majority districts. Democrats would need an unprecedented swing of 15 points to make up for the redistricting.

Democrats can’t stop the Republican majority by vote. But they can deny the legislature a quorum. With the encouragement of Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, dozens of Texans got on a plane in Austin and headed for Chicago’s O’Hare. When they arrived, Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu was defiant—but also pointed out that the Texas delegation faces possible arrest and violence. “We know the governor has no authority to send state troopers over here but we don’t know what Donald Trump’s going to do,” he said. Under Trump, a number of Democratic lawmakers and officials have been arrested with little pretext.

Pritzker has said, “We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of [the Texas legislators].” The Illinois governor is essentially providing asylum for political refugees.

For those of us in Illinois, Pritzker’s actions are familiar. During his tenure, the state has quietly but forcefully worked to provide protection for people who have been targeted and persecuted under red state regimes.

In 2023, in the wake of the anti abortion Dobbs decision, the Illinois state legislature passed a bill which protected individuals providing reproductive health care from “civil and criminal discovery from other states” and from “extraditions related to providing reproductive health care.” The bill extends the same protections for those providing gender-affirming care for trans patients. Illinois has also expanded access to abortion, legislated expanded insurance coverage, and made it easier for trans people to change their gender markers on legal documents.

These measures have made Illinois a haven for refugees from Republican misogyny and transphobia. In 2024, Illinois provided 1 in 4 of all abortions for people traveling across state lines for care. Though many abortion refugees travel from neighboring states like Indiana—which has banned virtually all abortion care—the Chicago Abortion Fund says that they have received calls from individuals in 41 states seeking care. Illinois is the state that provides the most out-of-state abortions; more than twice as many as second place North Carolina.

Similarly, Journalist Erin Ryan writes that hundreds of thousands of trans people are fleeing Republican controlled states amid a terriying slew of red state anti trans legislation. Many of these trans people have come to Illinois and especially Chicago, where local, as well as state, authorities have made efforts to make trans people feel welcome. The federal government’s rabid anti trans stance under Trump means even trans people in Illinois face difficulties getting health care and finding jobs. But my own trans daughter says that the efforts by the state make a real difference—not least because it creates the conditions for a thriving trans community, and has made it easier for people to support each other without fear of being targeted by the authorities.

The fight over gerrymandering and legislative maps can seem like abstract partisan infighting. Political chaos in Texas can seem like a big old colorful Texas mess, especially as Texas Governor Abbott escalates threats; he’s currently warning that he’ll charge Texas Democrats with bribery if they fundraise to pay the $500 a day fine for not attending the legislature, and has even said he has the right to remove them from office and appoint his own cronies in their place, abandoning all pretense of democratic (or Democratic) representation in the state.

But as Pritzker knows, our neighbor’s mess is our mess too. Texas’ attack on democracy is going to affect the composition of the House, and that affects everyone in the country.

More, what happens in red states matters to us in Illinois because we have friends, family, colleagues, and countrymen and women in red states. Marginalized people in red states—trans people, women, Black people—need our help. And we need theirs too, because people in red states are uniquely positioned to fight against the erosion of all our rights. We’re all one country, which is why it makes sense for Texas legislators to fight for democracy by coming to Illinois.