California Democrats are taking up their proposed constitutional amendment to temporarily redraw their congressional maps, hours after Republicans in the Texas House passed new maps of their own.

Barack Obama has backed Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw California’s voting map. The former US president said it was a necessary step to stave off Donald Trump’s efforts to redistrict Texas, which would favour Republicans in the state.

Democratic voters loathe partisan redistricting, but support California doing it to counter Texas, according to a new national poll on Gavin Newsom’s high-stakes gerrymander.