The Republican-controlled Texas House on Wednesday resumed debate on House Bill 4, a rare mid-decade redistricting plan drafted at the urging of President Donald Trump. The proposal would redraw the state’s 38 congressional districts to give the GOP an edge in five seats now held by Democrats, fortifying a narrow national House majority ahead of the 2026 midterms. Democrats returned to the Capitol this week after a two-week walkout that had denied the chamber a quorum. Speaker Dustin Burrows ordered state troopers to shadow Democratic members and locked the chamber doors until the vote is taken, prompting Representative Nicole Collier to sleep in the chamber and others to tear up the required “permission slips” for leaving the building. Opposition lawmakers labeled the map “illegal and racially discriminatory.” Representative Chris Turner’s motion to kill the bill failed, while Representative Gene Wu signaled plans to stall proceedings with an amendment linking passage to the public release of sealed Epstein investigation files. Representative Gina Hinojosa asked whether she could be arrested if she attempted a new walkout. Should the bill pass, civil-rights groups and Democrats say they will sue, arguing the shifts dilute minority voting power. The confrontation has triggered what both parties call a national redistricting war: California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is advancing a counter-proposal aimed at flipping five GOP seats, and officials in states such as Ohio, Florida and Illinois are considering their own mid-cycle maps.