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.

Democrats and voting rights advocates have denounced the redistricting effort, which is designed to give the GOP five more seats in the U.S. House.

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.