New York, NY (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – It wasn’t really meant that way.
“You’re the Govenor of Illinois, but right now you’re harboring fugitives from the great state of Texas,” said host Stephen Colbert, to Gov. JB Pritzker, as he appeared on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday night.
“Donald Trump’s trying to steal five seats from the people, frankly, of the country, not just the people of Texas, and disenfranchise people,” Pritzker told Colbert. “We’re talking about violating the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. So, the great heroes of the Texas House Democratic Caucus decided the only thing they could do, in order to stop it, was leave Texas.”
At issue, Pritzker said, instead of redistricting after a Census, they’re doing it either five years late, or five years early.
“What the Republicans are trying to do and the Texas Republicans, frankly, at the behest of Donald Trump, are doing it mid-decade. That is extraordinarily rare,” said Pritzker. “The way they’re doing it is taking voting rights away from black and brown people. They’re literally obliterating districts that were written according to the Voting Rights Act.”
“We handed it over to a Kindergarten class and let them decide,” said Pritzker, to laughs from the audience. “That’s the independent commission.”
Pritzker was responding to a question from Colbert about how, for example, the 17th Congressional District, extends from parts of Rockford, to parts of Bloomington-Normal. At various points, Springfield was in parts of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Districts.