“Only cowards run to blue states,” Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Sunday, blasting Democrat state House members who fled the state to prevent a vote on Congressional redistricting.

“Texas Democrats didn’t stand and fight—they fled, obstructing critical state business for hardworking Texans,” Gov. Abbott wrote in a social media post introducing video from an interview discussing how the Democrats are hiding out in Democrat-run (“blue”) states.

“This is the most un-Texan thing we’ve ever seen,” Gov. Abbott told Fox News Sunday:

“In Texas, from the time of the Alamo until today, Texans stand and fight.

“What these cowards did, they didn’t stand and fight: they fled and went to leftist Blue states that may be more in line with their personal philosophy that is not welcome in the state of Texas.“

“They might as well just start voting in California, or voting in Illinois or wherever they may be,” Abbott said:

“And that will aid and support the lawsuits that I’ve filed in the Texas Supreme Court saying that these lawmakers have abandoned their seats, because we are incapable of conducting business for the people of Texas because they have fled.”

The Texas governor noted that the state’s legislature will stay in session “for years,” if necessary, because he will just keep calling one 30-day session after another until the fugitive Democrats return.