Report: Texas Democrats staying in Illinois evacuated after bomb threat
Democratic state House lawmakers who were staying in a hotel in Illinois to frustrate a vote on a Republican-led redistricting effort were evacuated over a bomb threat.
Officers with the St. Charles, Ill., police department, about 90 minutes west of Chicago, said they responded to a bomb threat at the Q Hotel, ABC News reported . They did not find a device.
"St. Charles Police and Fire departments and the Kane County Sheriff's Office bomb squad conducted a thorough search and no device was found. In response to the threat, 400 people were immediately evacuated and the area was secured as bomb squad units conducted their investigation," the department said in a statement, according to ABC News.
More than 50 Texas lawmakers have scattered across the country as they've tried to deprive Republicans of the votes they need to advance a congressional map aimed at flipping five seats that are currently majority-minority.
Authorities told ABC News that guests and staff were safely able to return to the hotel and that their investigation was ongoing.
At least two Texas lawmakers released statements saying they would not give in to such acts of intimidation.
"Early this morning, a bomb threat forced us to evacuate our hotel. Thankfully, no one was harmed. But this is the kind of danger that comes from reckless rhetoric. When the Attorney General tells people to 'hunt us down,' it's not just politics -- it's a threat to our safety," state Rep. Ann Johnson said in a statement.
"We've been threatened by the Governor, the Attorney General, and our colleagues in the House," state Rep. John Bucy said in a statement, according to ABC News. "This harmful discourse emboldens bad actors and encourages violence. It's unacceptable and needs to end."
A spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, told ABC News that Abbott, who has sharply criticized the Democratic lawmakers, condemns violence "without reservation."
But that spokesperson also rejected suggestions that Abbott's criticisms had been inflammatory, the network reported.
"First and foremost, violence -- or even the threat of it -- is unacceptable and the Governor condemns it without reservation. But to suggest that calling on Democrats to return to Texas and do their jobs is somehow 'inflammatory' is absurd," Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, told ABC News.
Democratic members of the Texas state Senate, joined by lawmakers in three dozen states, rallied outside the State House in Boston on Wednesday morning, where they warned that the effort in the Lone Star state was the tip of the national iceberg.
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