LOS ANGELES, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The California legislature approved on Thursday a redistricting plan aimed at giving Democrats five more seats in the U.S. Congress, countering a partisan advantage President Donald Trump sought from a Republican move to redraw political maps in Texas.

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.

A 2028 presidential poll found Gavin Newsom is the top choice of 25% of California's Democratic voters, with Kamala Harris at 19%, & Tim Walz at 4%.

SACRAMENTO — Ratcheting up the pressure in the escalating national fight over control of Congress, the California Legislature on Thursday approved a November special election to ask voters to redraw the state’s electoral lines to favor Democrats and thwart President Trump’s far-right policy agenda.

The governor is the top presidential contender among Democratic-leaning voters in the state, according to the latest POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey.

A Democratic Texas lawmaker has chosen to spend the night in the state House chamber to avoid being shadowed by law enforcement.

Despite supporting independent redistricting, former President Obama endorsed California Democrats' proposal to redraw the state's congressional districts to counter efforts by President Trump and GOP state leaders to push middecade partisan gerrymandering.

The bill is scheduled to hit the California legislature's election committee on Tuesday, then the appropriations committee Wednesday. If it passes those committees, a full vote by both houses will need to happen by Thursday to meet California's secretary of state deadline to get the initiative on a Nov. 4 special election ballot.