The Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday gave initial approval to a new Trump-backed congressional map plan that would net the Republican party as many as five additional seats in next year’s midterms, solidifying GOP control of the U.S. Congress.
The 87-to-52 vote occurred along party lines, and came after Democratic lawmakers in Texas temporarily fled to deny the statehouse quorum to move forward with the redistricting effort.
The Texas House is expected to pass the map in a full vote later Wednesday.
The state Senate passed a similar map on Sunday. The redistricting plan still needs the governor’s sign-off to become law.
In July, President Trump said he was pushing the Texas GOP to redraw state congressional maps to pick up more Republican seats.
“Texas will be the biggest one,” Trump said at the time. “And that’ll be five.”
Texas Republicans openly described the maps as a way to increase GOP fortunes, but denied accusations the plan was racist and aimed at disenfranchising minority voters.
“The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance,” State Representative Todd Hunter, who authored the bill creating the new map, said during debate on Wednesday.
Redrawing congressional district lines typically only takes place at the beginning of the decade, after the U.S. Census. Republicans in Texas believe that five districts currently held by Democrats can be redrawn to make the districts more favorable to conservative candidates.
Democrats argue that the new proposed maps are racist and unlawfully divide Black and Latino communities in order to dilute minority representation.
Across the country, Democrats have threatened to respond to Texas’s efforts with reciprocal redistricting in California and other blue states.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing a plan in California to redraw congressional maps via ballot measure in November; his party plans to shift five Republican-held districts to put more Democratic voters in them.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans hold a single-digit majority and are facing an unfavorable midterm dynamic next year.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
