Washington, April 23 -- Virginians voted on Tuesday to back a new electoral map that could hand Democrats four more seats in the US House of Representatives, turning President Donald Trump's redistricting push into a potential liability for Republicans in upcoming midterm elections. The battle over "gerrymandering" - the long-established but widely criticised US practice of drawing electoral boundaries to benefit one party - has become one of the defining fights of the campaign for November's congressional contests. The state voted in a referendum to let officials redraw the congressional map before the next scheduled nationwide redistricting in 2030, giving Democrats a strong advantage in 10 of the state's 11 House districts, up from their previous 6-5 edge. With control of the House on a knife's edge, the vote makes it more likely that Trump will be forced to finish his term with a Democratic legislature empowered to block his agenda and investigate his administration, rather than the compliant Republican Congress he now enjoys. It marked a stinging defeat for Trump, who joined a telephone rally on Monday night with House Speaker Mike Johnson to urge a no-vote, warning Virginians: "The whole country is watching." Redistricting usually follows the national census every 10 years, but Trump last year urged Republican-led states to redraw maps mid-decade to protect the party's fragile House majority. Agence france-presse...