The Republican-controlled Texas legislature is expected to pass a new congressional map creating five new winnable seats for the GOP.

Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke is the preferred candidate among Democratic voters in the state’s 2026 Senate race, according to recent polling — despite having lost three major races within a span of four years.

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.

They already have more power than the vote totals justify,” Scudder said. “This isn’t about fairness — it’s about locking in control.”

The Republican-controlled Texas legislature is expected to pass a new congressional map creating five new winnable seats for the GOP at the behest of President Donald Trump.

The effort is intended to help the G.O.P. win five more U.S. House seats in the midterm elections. Other states, red and blue, are likely to redraw their own maps.

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

Texas Republicans on Wednesday will take 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 its passage.

The chairman of the state Democratic Party said the lawmakers “are coming back to fight these racist maps in the legislature and then in the courts.”