Texas troops in Illinois spark new showdown between Abbott and Pritzker

Why it matters: It's another battle in the ongoing political feud between Gov. JB Pritzker and Abbott that started as rhetoric but has more recently turned into actionable resentment and contempt.

What they're saying: "You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it," Abbott said in a social media post, referring to Chicago and Illinois' pushback against the National Guard.

The other side: "Gov. Abbott should stay the hell out of Illinois' business," Pritzker shot back in a recent press conference.

Flashback: Abbott bused over 30,000 migrants from Texas to Chicago from 2022 to 2024 without any coordination with state and city officials. The move was criticized by Pritzker, Johnson and other Illinois Democrats as a political stunt.

• Pritzker called Abbott reckless, while Abbott said Pritzker was a "hypocrite."

Zoom in: Pritzker inflamed the feud this summer when he harbored Democratic Texas state legislators who were fleeing the state to avoid a vote on mid-census redistricting.

• And it's not just Pritzker. The city of Chicago's economic development wing, World Business Chicago, pushed against Texas over its 2021 abortion ban, taking out a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News to woo residents to head north to Illinois.

The latest: Pritzker has threatened to withdraw from the National Governors Association, which has not backed states like Illinois, Oregon and California in their efforts to block a federalized National Guard being deployed from other states.

What we're watching: A judge is expected to rule Thursday whether the National Guard's deployment to Illinois is legal.

• If the ruling falls in line with other recent court decisions, the guard could have a brief stay in Chicago, making it just the latest salvo between two states with big beef.