A bomb scare forced an evacuation of Texas Democratic lawmakers staying at a suburban Chicago hotel, but authorities later gave the all-clear.

Chicago

A group of Texas Democratic lawmakers staying at the Q Center in St. Charles, Illinois, were evacuated after a bomb threat was reported. Authorities searched the premises but found no device, and guests were later allowed to return to the hotel. The lawmakers had planned a press conference with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, which was subsequently canceled. 

The Texas Democrats are in Illinois to avoid a legislative quorum in Texas, aiming to prevent the passage of new redistricting maps. The incident has heightened concerns among the group, particularly following recent political rhetoric and the presence of a social media influencer publicizing their location. Illinois officials are investigating the threat, and the safety of the guests has been assured.

'All clear' given after bomb threat to Texas Democrats in Chicago

Well, a bomb scare forced an evacuation for Texas Democrats staying at a hotel in St. Charles. Parrish is joining us now with the latest on that situation. Parrish, what can you tell us? Sylvia, all clear right now. The folks that were evacuated here at the Q Center, which is a big convention space on the banks of the Fox River in St. Charles, they have been let back in. But that is after reports of a bomb threat at around 715 this morning. So according to St. Charles Police, 400 folks staying here were evacuated soon after authorities went inside. They did not find any kind of device. They were let back in. But it has rattled some of the Texas Democrats staying here. They were scheduled to give a press conference at about 1230 with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. That has now been canceled. And one of those lawmakers, Ann Johnson, a state representative from Texas, saying, quote, a bomb threat this morning, forced an evacuation because of dangerous Republican rhetoric. As a former human trafficking prosecutor, I've faced threats before, but never from the governor, President Trump. Paxton, that's the attorney general in Texas, told his supporters to, quote, hunt us down, but we won't be silenced. So clearly, they're very concerned with what's taking place here. But St. Charles officials say their safety is now guaranteed. There is no device found in this Q Center. Governor Pritzker weighing in, that he has been made aware of these reports. He is directing the Illinois State Police to look into this. And St. Charles Police saying, if anyone has any leads, any info, to call the police department. We did get some sources with the Democrats saying they're concerned, particularly with YouTube influencer, provocateur, conspiracy theorist, who's been out here the last couple days, trying to track some of these folks down, kind of revealing where they were staying. And now it's known to everybody. It's the Q Center, a convention space here in St. Charles. No connection that we know of yet, but they told me they were concerned with some of that person's followings and some of the postings that they had made. So we hope to bring you some more information on this at the bottom of the hour. But for now, reporting from St. Charles, Paris Schutz. Sylvia and Brian. Paris, I'm curious. So first of all, I wonder if they'll be staying there now that everybody knows where they are. And what is the plan for these Texas Democrats? Even before this happened, what was going to be their next step? Their next step was to bring in more Democratic power players, including Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, to come in to basically shine a national spotlight on this issue of gerrymandering. Let's remember why they're here. They're trying to avoid a legislative quorum in Texas so that that legislature cannot pass these new maps, these redistricting maps here. Very unusual thing for redistricting to occur midstream. Redistricting typically happens every 10 years after the census. So Texas, along with Illinois, along with many other states, already did their remap. Illinois and Texas have been criticized for being gerrymandered. Illinois to favor Democrats, Texas to favor Republicans. But now Texas lawmakers, at the behest of President Trump, trying to draw seats that will perhaps allow them to pick up five more Republicans in Congress as they face midterms. So it's a very contentious, very heated political issue. The rhetoric has turned sort of violent now, and now we are seeing these threats. They're keeping their next moves close to the vest, Sylvia. We don't know what they're going to do next, but we will be monitoring the situation. And Paris, I also want to ask you, I'm not sure if you have this information, do we have any idea why these Texas Democrats came to here, the Chicagoland area, when they could have gone somewhere else in the country for this? Yeah, basically, they said that Governor Pritzker had met them several weeks ago, and they'd established this relationship. Pritzker basically saying, look, you know, if something, if it comes to this, we'll offer you some support, some logistical help. He said he has not provided any financial help. But clearly, they've offered logistical help in setting them up at places like the Q Center on the Fox River. And so that's why they decided to come to Illinois, despite the fact that it is ironic, given the fact that Illinois' maps have been very heavily criticized for being drawn to favor Democrats. As you know, we have 17 seats in Congress in Illinois, 14 of those go to Democrats. And all folks have to do is go look at those maps, go Google them and look at how squiggly they are. And when you see those squiggly lines, you know things are a little nefarious. Same thing in Texas, same thing in many other states that have drawn these bats. But now, as you know, Brian, it's set off this sort of arms race, so to speak, where if Texas wants to further gerrymander their maps, well, then blue states have talked about going in and doing the same thing. So we'll bring you much more later today at 4 or 5 and on Paris on Politics. All right. Thank you so much, Paris.

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