The Texas House of Representatives advanced a redistricting bill on Wednesday, moving new congressional maps one step closer to passage in the chamber.

Democrats and voting rights advocates have denounced the redistricting effort, which is designed to give the GOP five more seats in the U.S. House.

The approval of the maps on a party-line vote is likely to prompt California’s Democratic-controlled state Legislature to approve a new map creating five new Democratic-leaning districts.

Texas lawmakers on Wednesday passed a new congressional district map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats to Republican control in next year's midterm elections, a key step in an increasingly acrimonious partisan battle as California Democrats lined up their own redistricting effort.

A Texas lawmaker confirmed she remained in her seat on the Texas House floor Monday morning after refusing to sign a GOP-mandated "permission slip" requiring Department of Public Safety escorts for Democrats who broke quorum over redistricting.

The Texas Democrat who slept in the state Capitol on Monday is accusing the state's House speaker of illegally confining her and threatening her with arrest. Why it matters: Rep. Nicole Collier's court filing is an escalation of a two-week standoff between Texas Democrats and Republicans over rare mid-decade redistricting,

A state lawmaker has refused to leave the Texas Capitol as Republicans use police to prevent Democrats from fleeing the state over a redistricting vote.

State Representative Nicole Collier plans to stay in the Texas Capitol until Wednesday in protest against a police escort policy.