Texas Democrats concede vote battle

The Democrats blocked the vote as long as possible

Democrats in Texas have given up efforts to block a plan which they say is designed to reduce their numbers in Washington.

They had gone to extreme measures to prevent Republicans in the state legislature from passing a plan to change voting districts - including fleeing to neighbouring states to avoid the debates.

But on Monday state senators showed up to vote on the measures.

Experts say the Republican redistricting plan could shift the balance in one of the few areas of Texan politics where the Democrats still hold sway - the House of Representatives in Washington.

The state currently sends 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans to the House.

If the Republican redistricting plan passes, the party could win as many as 21 seats, leaving the Democrats with 11.

The Democrats accuse President George W Bush - a former Texas governor - and his advisers of engineering the plan.

Tom DeLay, the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives and himself a Texan, is a champion of the redistricting scheme.

Republicans say they should have more representation given Texas voting patterns.

Flight

More than 50 Democrat state lawmakers fled across the state border into Oklahoma in the spring to prevent the measure from passing, and 11 went to New Mexico in the summer.

Texas Republicans faced a largely empty house in the spring

They had to leave the state to prevent Texas police from arresting them and forcing them to attend legislative sessions.

They gave up their fight after state Senator John Whitmire, a Democrat, caved in and returned to Texas.

His defection made it impossible for Democrats to prevent the vote.

The spring flight to Oklahoma was the third time in modern Texas history that state legislators had thwarted bills by denying a quorum - which in this case was 100 lawmakers out of a 150-strong assembly.

Republicans gained control of the Texas House in November for the first time since just after the US Civil War in the 1860s.