Texas legislators on Wednesday took up a new state congressional map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections, after dozens of Democratic lawmakers ended a two-week walkout that had temporarily blocked passage.

The Republican-controlled House shot down all 12 Democrat-proposed amendments ahead of the vote, including a bid to block the implementation of the new map until the federal government releases

Texas' Republican-led legislature is expected to approve new congressional maps that add five new House seats that the GOP could win

Texas Republicans are advancing a redistricting plan that could expand GOP seats and create majority-Black districts in Houston and Dallas.

Texas Republicans mandated that Democratic lawmakers not be allowed to leave the state house without a permission slip and a police escort.

Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the Texas House floor in protest after refusing a Republican demand to be placed under the watch of the state Department of Public Safety.

Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor.

President Donald Trump has taken aim at MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace in a bizarre social media rant. The drama started when 79-year-old Trump kicked off his Sunday morning with a cryptic post on Truth Social. “Bela,” he wrote, leaving his followers to debate the meaning of the word.