The Republican-led Texas House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a new congressional map crafted to hand five additional U.S. House seats to the GOP over fierce opposition from Democrats, who cast the plan as a racially discriminatory attempt by President Donald Trump to stack the deck in next year’s midterm election.

The House tentatively adopted the map, 88 to 52, on party lines, and was expected to grant its final approval later on Wednesday. A Senate panel advanced a similar map Sunday; the full chamber was expected to send the new lines to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk later this week.

Republican lawmakers are pursuing the unusual mid-decade redistricting plan, which has set off a national map-drawing war, amid pressure from Trump to protect the GOP’s slim majority in Congress. Th

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