By Eric Bradner, Arlette Saenz, Arit John, Steve Contorno, Andi Babineau, CNN

(CNN) — The Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a redistricting bill, paving the way for Republican-drawn maps that could net the GOP as many as five US House seats to be finalized in the coming days.

The 88-52 vote occurred on the heels of a more than two-week standoff with state Democrats, who blocked the bill from advancing in the first special session before returning to the state on Monday with the second special session underway.

Republicans are pushing forward with maps in an effort backed by President Donald Trump, who called the passage of the bill a “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!”

“Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding, “Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing.”

The bill will now move to the Senate. Once approved by the Senate, the bill will head to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who will sign the measure into law.

The vote came after a long line of Democrats railed against the bill, describing it as a partisan power grab that will dilute non-White voters’ influence.

State Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader, said that voters’ “problems start right here.”

“You may not understand gerrymandering. You may not understand redistricting,” Wu said. “But I hope you understand lying, cheating and stealing. Because this is what people do — people like Donald Trump. People like the Republican Party of Texas. When they can’t win, they cheat.”

The only Republican to speak during Wednesday’s heated House debate was state Rep. Todd Hunter, the sponsor of the new congressional maps. He chided Democrats for leaving the state and said that he supported the new maps in part for partisan reasons — “to give Republicans an opportunity where they haven’t in the past.”

“This fight is far from over,” Wu said at a news conference after the House passed the congressional maps. “Our best shot is in the courts.”

His statement was echoed by State Rep. Nicole Collier, who had spent the night on the Texas House floor to protest a Republican demand to be placed under surveillance after a Democratic walkout.

“Today is not the end,” Collier said at the news conference. “It is the start of a new beginning of a new Democratic party where we won’t back down, we won’t put up with their shit and we will push and push and push until we take over this country.”

Relegated to the minority, Democrats had no viable way to stop passage of the maps, but protested GOP tactics to prevent them from leaving the state again.

House Speaker Dustin Burrows required that the quorum-breaking Democrats be placed under the around-the-clock supervision of the Department of Public Safety to be allowed to leave the House floor. However, Collier refused to do so and had been confined to the House chamber. Other Democrats on Tuesday evening ripped up the written agreements that allowed them to leave the chamber and spent the night on the House floor.

On Wednesday, Collier — while on a press call from a women’s restroom off the House floor ahead of the expected vote — abruptly told listeners she had to leave because “they said it’s a felony for me to do this.”

Democrats had hoped to put Republicans in a politically tough spot with a vote on an amendment that would block the proposed Texas congressional maps from going into effect until all files related to Jeffrey Epstein are released.

But Burrows announced Wednesday afternoon that the amendment requiring Epstein files to be released is not germane to the bill and thus is out of order.

Burrows praised the passage of the new congressional map, saying in a statement it “has ushered in a new chapter of Republican unity.”

How were Democrats protesting?

Burrows imposed an unusual requirement on the Democrats who ended their 15-day boycott and returned to the Capitol on Monday: They’d be released from the House floor into the custody of a Department of Public Safety officer who would ensure their return Wednesday.

The move came after the civil arrest warrants Burrows signed shortly after Democrats fled the state proved unenforceable outside of Texas.

Most Democrats complied with the law enforcement escort, showing reporters what they called “permission slips” they received to leave the House floor and pointing to the officers escorting them around the Capitol.

But some Democrats protested. Collier refused to leave the House floor, sleeping there Monday night and planning to do so again Tuesday. Wu and Rep. Vince Perez, who signed the “permission slips” to leave with a police escort, stayed with Collier through Monday night.

Other Democrats joined Collier and Wu on Tuesday night.

State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said after returning to the Houston area under police escort, she realized it was a mistake to enter into the agreement, arguing she is now “correcting course.”

“Yesterday, I left in custody and I came back in custody, because I stand with Nicole Collier and Gene Wu,” she said. “This is illegitimate, this is a wrongful use of power, and I will not condone it, and I don’t want to be a part of setting a very bad and low precedent for future legislators.”

Obama weighs in on redistricting fight

The outcome of the redistricting efforts are already having major implications across the country, with several other Republican-dominated states considering following Texas’ lead with their own mid-decade redistricting efforts.

Meanwhile, Democrats have threatened to redraw maps in states they control, such as New York and California.

Former President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he supported a proposal by California Democrats to redraw congressional lines, but expressed unease with the broader effects of political gerrymandering.

“On this California issue, I want to see as a long-term goal that we do not have political gerrymandering in America. That would be my preference,” Obama said at an event Tuesday evening for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a liberal organization focused on the fight over congressional district lines, according to excerpts of his remarks shared with CNN.

He continued, “But I want to be very clear. Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies, redistrict right in the middle of a decade between censuses – which is not how the system was designed; I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this.”

When will California Democrats vote?

The California Senate Appropriations committee voted 5-2 on Wednesday to advance new maps designed to give Democrats five additional seats in next year’s midterm elections.

The measure, known as AB604, now moves to the full Legislature for a vote, where it needs support from two-thirds of each chamber to immediately take effect. Final passage is expected Thursday and Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill later in the day.

Many California Republicans have acknowledged that their best chance to block the new maps are by defeating them in November. But that hasn’t stopped GOP lawmakers from attempting to stop the proposed constitutional amendment from making it onto the ballot.

California Republicans filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court Tuesday requesting an emergency injunction to stop the redistricting effort on the grounds that the legislature didn’t give voters enough notice.

State Rep. Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican, also filed a proposed citizens’ initiative that would retroactively ban lawmakers who approve the constitutional amendment from running in one of the new districts.

The proposal mirrors a rule that bans members of the independent redistricting commission from running on maps they drew. It’s also a dig at DeMaio’s Democratic colleagues, including Mike McGuire, the senate president pro tempore. McGuire, who is term-limited, is seen as a likely candidate to run in a redrawn Northern California district under the new maps. If DeMaio and his allies gathered enough signatures, the measure would not appear before voters until 2026.

Republicans have also grilled Democrats over the origin of the maps, leading to tense exchanges during the Assembly’s elections committee meeting Tuesday.

“Who drew the maps? It’s a very simple question,” state Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, the committee’s Republican vice chair, said during the panel’s Tuesday meeting.

“The Assembly did,” Aguiar-Curry said.

“I’m in the Assembly, and I did not draw these maps,” Macedo responded.

The chair of the Assembly’s elections committee, Gail Pellerin, also declined to say who drew the maps during a gaggle with reporters Tuesday. Pellerin said it was a “collaboration” with several people.

One reporter asked: “When you consume something, don’t you want to know who makes it?”

“When I go to a restaurant, I don’t need to meet the chef,” Pellerin said. “I just enjoy the food.”

CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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