At the end of the day, this is cheating," State Rep. Gene Wu said. "This is cheating when you know you’re going to lose.”

The first draft of the lower chamber’s new redistricting map targets Democratic members of Congress in the Austin, Dallas and Houston metro areas and in South Texas.

Texas Republicans are powering ahead with an aggressive strategy backed by President Donald Trump to seize control of multiple Democratic seats in next year’s critical midterm: redrawing the state’s congressional map in favor of more GOP seats.