By Steve Contorno, Aileen Graef, Ed Lavandera

Chicago (CNN) — Texas House Democrats left the state Sunday in a desperate bid to block an aggressively partisan redrawing of the state’s congressional map orchestrated by Republicans with the support of President Donald Trump.

The last-ditch attempt adds kerosene to an already smoldering political battle in the Lone Star State that has significant repercussions in Washington, where House Republicans enter a challenging midterm landscape with a razor-thin majority.

In a hostile response, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened late Sunday to remove lawmakers who don’t show up when the state House convenes Monday afternoon, equating the absence to an “abandonment or forfeiture of an elected state office.”

The latest escalation in Texas could preview more bitter fights ahead as GOP states face intensifying pressure from Trump to redraw more maps to their advantage where possible. Democrats have vowed retribution in states where they control district boundaries.

The proposal put forward last week by Texas Republicans could potentially eliminate five Democratic US House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. With solid majorities in both state legislative chambers, Republicans have a glide path to delivering on Trump’s wishes.

States typically redraw congressional district boundaries once every 10 years following the release of updated population data from the United States census. A mid-decade revision of the map would be an extraordinary move — one that Democrats contend is a nakedly partisan effort aimed at bolstering Republicans’ prospects of retaining control of the House.

Texas Democrats played one of their few remaining cards: leaving the state to block a quorum. The Texas Constitution requires two-thirds of the state House present to conduct legislative business. With 62 Democrats in the House, the minority party can block action as long as 51 remain out of state.

“We will not be complicit in the destruction of our own communities,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said shortly after landing in Chicago.

Dozens of Democrats joined Wu on Sunday night in Chicago, where they were greeted by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Others flew to Boston and some to Albany, New York, where they will hold an event Monday with Gov. Kathy Hochul. A handful with family and medical issues stayed in Texas but will not appear in Austin on Monday, Wu said. He declined to share details on how many lawmakers are in each location and where they intend to go from here.

In a statement from Chicago, the Texas House Democratic Caucus responded to Abbott’s threat to remove lawmakers from office: “Come and take it.”

“It is the right of legislators to deny quorum, ” said Democratic State Rep. Chris Turner, whose district includes Arlington, around 30 miles west of Dallas. “As Governor Abbott should know, we also have separation of powers in this country. The executive doesn’t get to remove lawmakers just because he doesn’t like how we choose to represent those who elected us.”

It remains to be seen whether the gambit will successfully block Republicans from eventually passing their map. Lawmakers are meeting under a special session that can last for only 30 days, and the current session will end August 19. But there’s little stopping Abbott from calling them back to the state Capitol as many times as it takes.

It’s also unclear whether Texas Democrats will stick together. A similar play by Democrats there in 2021 fizzled out after 38 days when a handful secretly broke ranks and returned to Texas, allowing Republicans to move ahead on a bill imposing new voting restrictions.

After that unsuccessful effort, new rules were put in place to fine lawmakers $500 a day if a member is absent, including “for the purpose of impeding the action of the House.”

Lu would not say how long Democrats were prepared to stay outside the state, only that they would do “whatever it takes.”

“What that looks like we don’t know,” he said.

Already, Texas Democrats are facing threats from back home. In his statement late Sunday warning Democrats they could lose House membership, Abbott also accused them of raising money to cover their fines, which he suggested may be a felony.

Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general and a candidate for US Senate, said Sunday evening that “Democrats in the Texas House who try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”

“We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law,” he continued in a post on X, though he did not specify which tools could be used.

Texas Republicans argue the redistricting is necessary over concerns that the current maps are unconstitutional and racially gerrymandered. Democrats have said it would suppress the votes of people of color.

Democrats nationwide have threatened to respond to the GOP’s efforts at redistricting in Texas with the same tactics in Democratic-controlled states like California and New York. National Democratic Redistricting Committee Chairman Eric Holder, a longtime critic of partisan gerrymandering, says it may be time for Democrats to change their approach.

“We have to understand that the nature of the threat that has been put upon the country through what they’re trying to do in Texas has really increased the danger to our democracy. And as a result of that, we’ve got to do things that perhaps in the past, I would not have supported,” he said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

The political climate sets the stage for a year of chaos leading up to the midterm elections, with the congressional maps in flux and lawsuits likely. But Trump and national Republicans have made clear they will take exceptional measures to retain Congress for the final two years of his presidency. And Democrats have promised their supporters they intend to fight.

Republicans have argued that blue states have already tilted congressional maps in Democrats’ favor. They point to states like Illinois, where Democrats have 14 legislative seats to Republicans’ three.

Pritzker, who CNN reported Sunday first began planning this move with Texas Democrats in June, rejected that argument, arguing his map passed constitutional muster and was approved on a traditional timetable. He urged Democrats to fight back if Texas Republicans move ahead with their mid-decade power grab.

“All bets are off when the cult leader and would-be dictator of the United States tells Texas to midstream change the game when they know that they’re going to lose in 2026,” Pritzker said. “All bets are off. Everything’s got to be on the table.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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