AUSTIN, Texas — Democrats in the Texas Legislature fled the state on Sunday afternoon in an effort to stop Republican-led redistricting efforts.

A large group of Democratic lawmakers took off from Austin's airport, skipping town a day after a Texas House panel advanced a redrawn congressional map that would add more GOP seats.

By leaving, Democrats deny the Republican majority a quorum to pass bills, just days before the Texas House of Representatives was expected to consider the new district lines.

The push to redraw the map follows President Donald Trump's urging of Texas Republicans to redraw the districts to secure five more Republican seats in the U.S. House ahead of the midterm elections.

To create the five new Republican seats, the proposed map shifts voters in Austin, Hou

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