Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced he will ask a court to declare the seats of the absent Democratic lawmakers vacant after they fled the Lone Star State in an effort to prevent majority Republicans from adopting controversial congressional maps that critics have derided as a power grab.
Legislative Democrats over the weekend left Texas for Democratic-strongholds, such as New York and Illinois, to deny Republicans the minimum number of lawmakers necessary to pass legislation, and to prevent passage of congressional maps, supported by President Donald Trump, that would reportedly lock in five GOP seats to the U.S. House of Representatives in the run up to next year's midterm elections.
Critics of the maps have described them as seeking to increase Republican seats in the House through racial gerrymandering that reduces the voting power of people of color in the state.
Texas Republicans have, in turn, accused the Democrats of neglecting their responsibilities as state legislators by fleeing. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered their arrest and has threatened to investigate any Democrat who solicits funds to support their effort.
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