Texas governor threatens to remove Dems who fled state over redistricting vote

• Texas Republicans have threatened to arrest the Democrats over the action. Democratic Caucus chair Gene Wu said at a Sunday evening briefing with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker after arriving in Chicago that they had discussed this matter as "a topic of serious concern."
• Fleeing the state now could be politically risky as the vote was due to take place during the state Legislature's special session that was also called in response to the July 4 deadly flooding in Central Texas.

Driving the news: Wu in a Sunday statement accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) of turning flood victims' historic tragedy "into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump" and of "using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal."

• The Democrats "will not allow disaster relief to be held hostage to a Trump gerrymander," Wu added. "We're not walking out on our responsibilities; we're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent. As of today, this corrupt special session is over."
• After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on X threatened to "hunt down" the Democrats and said they should be arrested, Wu responded at the briefing by saying that Abbott has "no authority" to send state troopers to Chicago. "But we don't know what Donald Trump's going to do," he added.
• Abbott said in a Sunday statement he will "remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House" if they're not back by Monday afternoon. "This truancy ends now," he said.

What they're saying: Pritzker at the briefing pledged to do what he could to help.

• "This is not just rigging the system in Texas, it's about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come," said Pritzker, a vocal Trump critic who last month hosted Texas state legislators in a strong show of support in the redistricting fight.

Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin in a Sunday statement posted to his social media accounts said the DNC would "fight alongside" the Texas Democrats "to stop this anti-democratic assault."

The other side: Abbott on Sunday night slammed Democrats for "abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber's" business.

• "In addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may also have committed felonies" if they have solicited "funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules," Abbott said in his statement.
• "I will use my full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any potential out-of-state felons," Abbott added.

Context: Abbott initially called the special session in June to start July 28 to discuss matters including THC regulation, but he added redistricting to the agenda following a phone call from Trump, per Axios' Alex Isenstadt and Megan Stringer.

• Flood management was added to the agenda following last month's tragedy.

What we're watching: State House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) said on X the session will be held on Monday and if a quorum is not present then, "all options will be on the table..."

• Any move to remove the Democrats would likely face a legal challenge.

Between the lines: Texas House Democrats have broken quorum twice in recent history — in 2021 to Washington, D.C., in response to proposed voting restrictions and to Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 2003 over redistricting.

• Both times only delayed the inevitable passage of the bills they had opposed.

Go deeper: Scoop: Dems are trying to stop a "nasty" internal battle in Texas

Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.

Axios' Astrid Galván contributed reporting.