CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker vowed on late-night television to protect Texas House Democrats who fled to Illinois to try and stop the Republican-controlled state legislature from redrawing congressional district boundaries to the GOP’s advantage ahead of next year’s midterm election.

“As long as they’re in Illinois, they’re safe,” Pritzker said when “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert asked about a request from Texas’ senior U.S. senator earlier in the day that the FBI assist in tracking down and apprehending the dozens of Democrats who left for Illinois and other states.

“The only thing that’s happened is a civil warrant was issued by the Republican speaker of the House in Texas, right?” Pritzker said. “And a civil warrant isn’t worth anything in the state of Illinois.”

Safety concerns arose Wednesday morning, however, with leaders of the Texas delegation issuing a statement saying members were the target of a threat. A news conference planned for later in the day in downstate St. Charles with Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was canceled.

“This morning, a threat was made against the safety of the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus,” leaders of the caucus said in a statement. “We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred and unintimidated. We are grateful for Governor Pritzker, local, and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety.”

St. Charles Police responded to a report of a potential bomb threat at the Q Center hotel and convention complex shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, but no device was found, the department said. As bomb squad units conducted their investigation, 400 people were evacuated from the area but guests and staff have since returned to the premises, the department said.

Texas state Rep. John Bucy, who represents an area near the state capital of Austin, said lawmakers staying in the suburbs were roused out of bed early Wednesday to “what sounded like a fire alarm going off” and a repeating message: There’s been a bomb threat on the hotel. Please evacuate immediately.

“So we woke up, threw on clothes and we all gathered outside as a caucus. We started trying to figure out what was going on,” he said. “It was an adrenaline kick at that moment.”

The hotel housed all members of the delegation who are breaking quorum in Illinois, he said.

“This climate of fear being fueled intentionally by Republican officials who would rather sow chaos than govern responsibly is unacceptable,” he said, placing some of the blame for the threat on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, both Republicans, for “fueling the flame of this behavior.”

Paxton previously called for Texas to “use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law,” and both Abbott and Paxton have called for arresting members of the Democratic delegation.

According to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office, one person made multiple bomb threats during the incident, though no devices were found by law enforcement. The office said no arrests have been made, but police were continuing to provide protection for guests at the hotel.

Illinois State Police also confirmed there was a bomb threat in the area, and spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the agency “has been in contact with local law enforcement, which responded swiftly and cleared the building.”

Pritzker’s appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which recently found itself at the center of controversy after CBS announced its decision to cancel the program next year, is the governor’s latest effort to raise his national profile as he campaigns for a third term and eyes a potential future White House bid in 2028.

Pritzker, who during his first term broke a campaign promise that he would veto any partisan redistricting plan for the Illinois General Assembly, has used the fight over Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting push to position himself as a defender of democratic norms and fair elections.

Calling the move “extraordinarily rare,” Pritzker said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his GOP allies are “taking rights away from Black and brown people.”

“They’re literally obliterating districts that were written according to the Voting Rights Act,” said Pritzker, who’s previously sparred with Abbott over the Texas governor’s decision to send busloads of migrants from the southern U.S. border to Chicago. “So this is going to end up in court if they actually are able to do it.”

Pritzker used humor to deflect questions about Illinois’ own heavily gerrymandered congressional map. After Colbert quipped that U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski’s 13th Congressional District, drawn to elect a Democrat by stretching from Champaign-Urbana to the Metro East suburbs of St. Louis, looks “like the stinger on a scorpion,” Pritzker replied, “We handed it over to a kindergarten class and let them decide.”

In reality, Pritzker’s Democratic allies in the state legislature — including state Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Cicero, whom he tapped to chair the state Democratic Party — drew the lines to cement their dominance in Springfield and in the state’s congressional delegation, even as Illinois lost one seat in the U.S. House.

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CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker vowed on late-night television to protect Texas House Democrats who fled to Illinois to try and stop the Republican-controlled state Legislature from redrawing congressional district boundaries to the GOP’s advantage ahead of next year’s midterm election.

“As long as they’re in Illinois, they’re safe,” Pritzker said when “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert asked about a request from Texas’ senior U.S. senator earlier in the day that the FBI assist in tracking down and apprehending the dozens of Democrats who left for Illinois and other states.

“The only thing that’s happened is a civil warrant was issued by the Republican speaker of the House in Texas, right?” Pritzker said. “And a civil warrant isn’t worth anything in the state of Illinois.”

Safety concerns arose Wednesday morning, however, with leaders of the Texas delegation issuing a statement saying members were the target of a threat. A news conference planned for later in the day in St. Charles with Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was canceled.

“This morning, a threat was made against the safety of the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus,” leaders of the caucus said in a statement. “We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred and unintimidated. We are grateful for Governor Pritzker, local, and state law enforcement for their quick action to ensure our safety.”

St. Charles Police responded to a report of a potential bomb threat at the Q Center hotel and convention complex shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, but no device was found, the department said. As bomb squad units conducted their investigation, 400 people were evacuated from the area but guests and staff have since returned to the premises, the department said.

Kathy Young, a police records specialist at the department, declined to say whether the Texas Democratic lawmakers were among the people who evacuated. There’s no indication of where the initial call came from, she said.

Illinois State Police also confirmed there was a bomb threat in the area, and spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the agency “has been in contact with local law enforcement, which responded swiftly and cleared the building.”

Pritzker’s appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which recently found itself at the center of controversy after CBS announced its decision to cancel the program next year, is the governor’s latest effort to raise his national profile as he campaigns for a third term and eyes a potential future White House bid in 2028.

Pritzker, who during his first term broke a campaign promise that he would veto any partisan redistricting plan for the Illinois General Assembly, has used the fight over Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting push to position himself as a defender of democratic norms and fair elections.

Calling the move “extraordinarily rare,” Pritzker said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his GOP allies are “taking rights away from Black and brown people.”

“They’re literally obliterating districts that were written according to the Voting Rights Act,” said Pritzker, who’s previously sparred with Abbott over the Texas governor’s decision to send busloads of migrants from the southern U.S. border to Chicago. “So this is going to end up in court if they actually are able to do it.”

Pritzker used humor to deflect questions about Illinois’ own heavily gerrymandered congressional map. After Colbert quipped that U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski’s 13th Congressional District, drawn to elect a Democrat by stretching from Champaign-Urbana to the Metro East suburbs of St. Louis, looks “like the stinger on a scorpion,” Pritzker replied, “We handed it over to a kindergarten class and let them decide.”

In reality, Pritzker’s Democratic allies in the state Legislature — including state Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Cicero, whom he tapped to chair the state Democratic Party — drew the lines to cement their dominance in Springfield and in the state’s congressional delegation, even as Illinois lost one seat in the U.S. House.

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(Chicago Tribune’s Olivia Olander and Jeremy Gorner contributed to this story.)

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