With the carved image of Martin Luther King Jr. as their backdrop, state House Democrats from Indiana and Texas, in a show of cross-state solidarity, coalesced in Chicago’s Marquette Park to highlight their joint resistance against Republican-led redistricting plans.

Democratic state lawmakers in Texas have left the state to avoid a vote on redistricting despite Republican pressure.

Texas Democratic lawmakers said they left the state in an effort to temporarily block Republicans from redrawing its congressional maps — a redistricting initiative pushed by President Donald Trump to help retain GOP control of the US House of Representatives in the midterms.