New Texas redistricting map released

• Tweet

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- The latest Texas redistricting map drawn by a federal court appears likely to govern this year's congressional election, officials say.

The interim map, released Tuesday by the court in San Antonio, would add two majority-minority districts, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Those districts were also in the map approved by the Republican majority in the state Legislature.

After the court released its previous map, which made more changes from the Legislature's version, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the judges to give more deference to the Legislature.

Like the Republican map, the new map splits Travis County, which includes the state capital, Austin, among five congressional districts, the newspaper said. The county is now divided among three districts.

Attorney General Greg Abbott called the new map a "substantial improvement" over the court's previous version, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported.

The state's primary had already been postponed until May 29 because of the redistricting dispute. The new map appears likely to be in force this year while the legal wrangling continues.