‘A Bad Look’: Even Chuck Todd Gets Irony Of Texas Dems Fleeing To Illinois To Protest Redistricting

Even former NBC anchor Chuck Todd recognized the irony in play when Texas Democrats, unable to win their state legislature’s redistricting fight by legitimate means, fled to the highly gerrymandered state of Illinois for refuge when they broke quorum in protest.

Todd, the longtime host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” made the comments during an appearance on “CNN News Central” after some 51 Texas legislators fled to Chicago to stop the progress of a Republican-driven redistricting plan — a plan they complain is “gerrymandered” and could tip as many as five congressional seats toward the GOP.

WATCH:

🚨NEW: Chuck Todd *BLASTS* Texas Dems for protesting gerrymandering by fleeing to gerrymandered Illinois🚨

“I think it’s a bad look for a party that claims to be always trying to protect the democracy.”@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/XD2MAzVTjL

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 4, 2025

“It seems as if the strategy is: bring more attention to this, make everybody uncomfortable. Right? The more painful you make the process in Texas, the more it’s hard to replicate. Maybe there isn’t — they may be — their own colleagues aren’t as interested in this. Congressional Republicans that serve in Texas, whose districts are actually going to get impacted negatively, also secretly are kind of hoping this goes away, too. And I think they think the longer — the more painful they can make this in doing it — maybe there’s a way to shut this down,” Todd said of the redistricting process.

But then he pivoted to address the fact that the Democrats had fled to Illinois — in part because Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker had expressed solidarity with them in the fight against the new maps — noting that when it comes to gerrymandering, Illinois is home of the real professionals.

“The part that I think is sort of bad — I think it’s a bad look for a party that claims to be always trying to protect the democracy — is to hole up in a state that gerrymanders: the state of Illinois. I mean, one of the worst … Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Maryland — those are your four giant gerrymandered states. And if you’re trying to make a point on gerrymandering, I don’t think I’d be going to the state of Illinois as a place to hide,” he explained.

Illinois redrew district maps in 2021 in a successful effort to wrest control of two Republican seats — one of them belonging at the time to Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) — ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.