3 days ago
Texas House Democrats accept Skokie official's invite to north suburban mosque
Before Texas House Democratic legislators return to Austin after a 12-day exile in Illinois to thwart their state's Republicans from approving gerrymandered Congressional districts, several accepted the invitation of a Skokie elected official to visit a north suburban mosque Friday afternoon.
Bushra Amiwala, herself a Democratic Congressional primary candidate who hopes to succeed U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky in Illinois' 9th district, invited the officials to a midday prayer at the Muslim Community Center in Morton Grove. Amiwala, a Skokie District 73.5 elected school board member, welcomed about 10 Texans, who arrived at the center in two SUVs.
When Texas Rep. Suleman Lalani, one of the first Muslims elected to the Texas House, arrived, he said visiting the house of worship was a step closer to getting back to normalcy, as he hadn't had the chance to set foot into a mosque since coming to Illinois.
'It's tough on us, tough on our family, tough on our staff,' he said. 'We have left our livelihood behind. We have left our family behind, we have been threatened. We've been threatened with arrest. We've been threatened with fines. We've been threatened to vacate our seats.'
Another Texas representative, Salman Bhojani, a Democrat, said, 'It's a lot to take in,' referring to his time spent in Illinois, during which a civil warrant was issued from Texas for his arrest, as well as that of all the other exiled representatives.
'But democracy, and some of the hardest things worth fighting for, are not easy, and so I think we have to understand that we're going to stay strong… and we're going to fight for everything that's going on.'
Bhojani said he was satisfied that he and the Texas Democrats blocked a vote from happening during the first special legislative session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican.
Friday marked the end of that special session in Texas, in which a Republican majority in the state House could have voted to implement the proposed district maps, which are drawn in a way to favor Republicans. Redrawn maps could potentially enable the GOP to flip up to five congressional seats from the Democratic Party in the 2026 Congressional elections.
Though Democrats are the minority in the Texas House, when they fled the state they effectively negated a quorum from being called and blocked a vote from taking place.
Amiwala remarked, 'What these Democratic Texas lawmakers stand for and represent is so far beyond this specific vote. They represent the fight against an unjust system that splits communities and writes unfair maps.'She added that the fact they stood up against the potential gerrymandering, 'risking their own safety and security, impacts generations and lawmakers around the country that even I seek a ton of inspiration from.'
Democrats visited other houses of worship during their stay in Illinois, but Friday's visit was the first one to a mosque.
The Texans braved an eventful week during their stay in Illinois. A bomb threat was called into a hotel in the western suburbs where a group of them were staying. The threat ended up being called a hoax after law enforcement found no danger.
In recent days in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called for a special redistricting process that will create a gerrymandered map to favor Democrats. In that process, voters will need to approve the redistricted map, which Bhojani said he is in favor of.
'Let's do a referendum in November, and let the voters decide,' he said. 'And if they're okay with it, who am I… to come in the way? Because I'm representing the will of the people.'
Before that, however, the representatives have to negotiate their return to the southern state.
Texas Rep. Jolanda Jones (D-Houston) said she anticipates going back to Austin will be challenging.
'[It will be a] vengeful, retributive, difficult, uphill fight. That's what we see. It is not pleasant. We are a red state, and whatever they want Trump to do, they let be.'
