Democrats in the Texas House left the state Sunday in a last-resort bid to block new congressional maps sought by President Donald Trump that would give Republicans a better chance of preserving their narrow U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

The dramatic revolt came before the GOP-controlled state House was set to vote Monday on the proposed maps, which would give Republicans five more winnable congressional seats. In response to Texas’ rare mid-decade political gerrymander, Democratic governors have floated the possibility of redrawing their own state’s maps in retaliation, but their options are limited.

Many of the Texas Democrats were bound for Illinois and a welcoming from Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, who in recent weeks has offered them support. It was not clear how long they were prepared to stay out of Texas or whether the gambit would succeed — four years ago, House Democrats left Texas for 38 days in protest of new voting restrictions that still wound up passing once the holdout ended.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.

Lawmakers can’t pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber and at least 51 were leaving the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the chamber would still meet as planned on Monday afternoon.

“If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table,” he posted on X.

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, said on X that Democrats who “try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”

A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served that year.