The Republican-controlled state House in Texas has passed new congressional maps that aim to pad the party’s majority in Washington by as much as five seats in the midterm elections, a move that comes as battles over redistricting spread across the country.

Texas lawmakers on Wednesday passed a new congressional district map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats to Republican control in next year's midterm elections, a key step in an increasingly acrimonious partisan battle as California Democrats lined up their own redistricting effort.