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Aug. 10 (UPI) — Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbot is threatening to call a series of rolling special legislative sessions to push the Trump administration’s efforts to redraw voting district boundaries in the state, the governor said Sunday.

Abbott argued during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that he has the authority to keep the Texas Legislature in session indefinitely, which would extend penalties for Democrats who have fled Washington for liberal-leaning states in an effort to sidestep a vote on efforts by the Trump administration to redraw Texas’ congressional voting district to favor the GOP.

Democratic lawmakers from Texas fled the state to deny the legislature the quorum it needs to vote on the change to legislative districts, which they contend are being crafted to benefit Republicans and disenfranchise Democrats, many of whom are Black and Latino.

Democrats flew to Illinois and other states run by Democratic governors, where they have received backing from state officials and politicians and who have criticized the GOP for its efforts to shape the voting districts in Republicans’ favor.

Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker has been vocal in his support of the Texas Democrats, and among the most vocal opponents of President Donald Trump and the Republican party’s efforts to remake the voting districts. Abbott has called the Illinois congressional voting map a joke.

“Governor Abbot is the joke,” Pritzker said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.

Pritzker bristled at allegations that Illinois’ congressional lines have been gerrymandered, which Abbott and other members of the GOP have contended.

Pritzker offered as evidence the fact that Trump won 44% of the statewide vote in the 2024 presidential election even though Republicans hold just 3 of the state’s 17 congressional districts.

Pritzker said Illinois took public opinion into account before designing Illinois’s voting boundaries, and said they are fair.

“We held public hearings, legislative hearings,” Pritzker continued. “People attended them. They spoke out. There was a map put out. There we actually made changes to the map. And a map was passed, and it was done at the end of the census, to the decennial census. So that’s how it’s done in this country.”

Abbott pressed his point and said Texas Democrats would be arrested upon their return.

“If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol,” Abbott said Sunday. “If they want to evade that arrest, they’re gonna have to stay outside the state of Texas for literally years.”

Abbott argued that Democrats are violating an article in the Texas constitution that requires them to act on measures before the legislature. He said because they are violating a constitutional mandate, “they are not fulfilling their oath of office, and they can be removed from office in this legal action that I am taking.”

Abbot has gone further, threatening to increase the redistricting margin for Republicans if Democrats fail to return to Austin.

It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.

San Bernardino, this was not.

With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.

Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.

UCLA linebacker JonJon Vaughns lines up with his hands on his hips and looks across the field during the first day of the Bruins’ preseason camp in Costa Mesa on Wednesday.

(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)

“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”

Foster said the football facilities at Cal State San Bernardino that the Bruins had last used in 2016 weren’t available, forcing the move to his native Orange County.

After going through the initial two-hour practice, temperatures topping out at 75 degrees, the consensus was that the Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex felt more like a day at the beach than one inside a sauna.

“In the beginning, it was a little humid,” linebacker Isaiah Chisom said, “but the sun came out, it was beautiful out here.”

The facilities included three grass fields, a makeshift locker room under one tent and a makeshift weight room under another. Trainers set up near the field, unfurling folding tables next to carts of supplies. Fences lining the field were adorned with signage reflecting the Bruins mantras — “Discipline, Respect and Enthusiasm” and “Do More.”

There was the usual training-camp cadence. Whistles blew and on cue, players wrapped up foam pads and dragged them to the ground. After another whistle signaled the start of stretching, a roar rang out. Players dropped to their knees to commence a series of body bends, twisting their arms and shoulders one way and then the other.

After a series of leg stretches, new defensive line coach Jethro Franklin offered an opening salvo to a group of nearby players.

“Bruin football,” Franklin said, “should not be for the timid or the weak.”

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava warms up during the first day of the Bruins’ preseason camp in Costa Mesa on Wednesday.

(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)

During the 25-minute media viewing period, new quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a couple of handoffs to running backs, including one to Anthony Woods for a short touchdown, and threw one pass into the end zone that fell incomplete.

“He slings it,” tight end Jack Pedersen said of Iamaleava’s throwing style. “It’s a nice, firm spiral, man, and the guy doesn’t miss. Literally, can’t say enough great things.”

Before the training session, Foster said he was confident Iamaleava had sufficiently mastered the offense after enrolling in June.

“He’s pretty much grasped the playbook already,” Foster said of the transfer from Tennessee. “We haven’t had to hold back on anything. And I know at least he has these first two installs down pretty well. So just looking forward to getting out there and just watching him.”

The practice was staged in relative secrecy. Other than a handful of donors and a few city officials from Costa Mesa, fans were not allowed to attend like they had been in San Bernardino, where they sometimes lined multiple practice fields. The six reporters on hand Wednesday were barred from taking photos or videos of even the warmup periods.

Foster said training camp was about preparation, not publicity.

“We’re here to work,” he said. “We’ve got 16 days to come out and really be able to put a good product out there on the field.”

This is a business trip complete with bed checks and a curfew. Chisom is rooming with running back Anthony Frias II and has a connecting door attached to the room of linebacker Ben Perry and running back Troy Leigber, providing ample opportunities to learn about new teammates.

“I think it makes us build brotherhood,” Chisom said. “You’re staying with some people that you may have never talked to before … it kind of forces us to be close.”

The schedule called for an off day Thursday to accommodate players’ final exam schedules, one of four breaks interspersed among the 14 practices before the team breaks camp on Aug. 16. The Bruins hope that by the time they return to campus, the installation of a new 100-yard grass practice field alongside two smaller artificial turf fields will be complete.

If not, they’ll have new friends to commiserate with as they shift practices elsewhere on campus.

“This is a great opportunity to spend 2 1/2 weeks with a guy you don’t really know, right?” said Pedersen, who is rooming with defensive back Croix Stewart. “Being able to branch out, I think it’s really cool that they do this, and this is now getting an opportunity to meet other guys on the team and branch out and make those lifelong connections.”

Etc.

Although a judge denied wide receiver Kaedin Robinson’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have granted him immediate eligibility, Foster said his confidence level remained in the “90s percent” that Robinson could play for the Bruins this season. Robinson, a transfer from Appalachian State, has a preliminary injunction hearing set for Aug. 18 that will decide whether he’ll be cleared to play. … Freshman defensive lineman Robert James III maneuvered the area on a scooter, his lower right leg encased in a protective boot. … Luke Duncan took the snaps as the top backup quarterback. … Foster said linebacker Weston Port had commenced a Mormon mission and was expected to return by the spring of 2027.