House Democrats are hammering President Trump and his GOP allies for pushing to alter Texas’s congressional lines ahead of the midterms, accusing the Republicans of rigging the system to stay in power.

"It's painfully clear why Republicans are doing this: They know they are going to lose the majority next year,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), the head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “Republicans know they can't win on their failed agenda, so they've hatched a scheme to rig the Texas map to try to save their microscopic majority.”

In a rare mid-decade redistricting effort, Texas state lawmakers are expected to consider new congressional lines during a special session of the Texas legislature, which was called by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. The effort to redraw the Texas map has come at the request of President Trump, who wants to pad the GOP’s thin House majority to ensure that Republicans keep control of the lower chamber during his final two years of his second term.

In a call to Texas Republicans on Tuesday morning, the president urged lawmakers to draw the districts in such a way that Republicans will be able to flip five Democratic seats to the GOP, according to Punchbowl News.

Democrats have bashed the effort, noting that Texas is still reeling from the massive floods that hit the Hill Country region of the state on the July 4 weekend. The floods killed scores of........

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