CHICAGO — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is threatening to try to remove Democratic lawmakers from office for fleeing the state and claiming they could be charged with crimes, escalating tensions overnight in a showdown over redrawing congressional lines ahead of the midterm elections......

Abbott, who also launched a $750,000 digital ad campaign Sunday against Democrats, cited a 2021 opinion from state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in his letter to contend that courts could determine Democrats had abandoned their duties and given up their jobs. That would allow Abbott to call special elections to replace them, he said.

“Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber’s business,” Abbott wrote in his letter....

By leaving, Texas Democrats have thwarted the plan for now. At least two-thirds of the members of the Texas House — 100 of 150 — must be present for lawmakers to take action. That means 51 of the 62 Democrats can block the Republicans from advancing their plans, and 57 have left the state, Democrats said. Most are in Chicago, but some are in Boston and Albany, New York, they said.

Abandonment is a species of resignation. Resignation and
abandonment are voluntary acts. The former is a formal
relinquishment; the latter a relinquishment through nonuser.
Abandonment implies nonuser, but nonuser does not, of itself,
constitute abandonment. The failure to perform the duties
pertaining to the office must be with actual or imputed intention on
the part of the officer to abandon and relinquish the office. The
intention may be inferred from the acts and conduct of the party, and
is a question of fact.