Topline
Texas Republicans’ attempt to redraw their congressional map to add five new likely GOP seats has snowballed into a national partisan gerrymandering war—with party leaders on both sides openly encouraging state lawmakers to redistrict in their party’s favor ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Indiana: Vice President JD Vance plans to travel to Indianapolis Thursday to lobby Republican Gov. Mike Braun and GOP state legislators about redrawing the state’s congressional maps, though Braun characterized any discussion about calling a special session to potentially add a new GOP seat as “exploratory,” the IndyStar reported.
Texas: The GOP-controlled state legislature is attempting to pass a new map that would add five likely-Republican seats, though Democrats have blocked the effort, at least temporarily, by fleeing the state and preventing the legislature from establishing the quorum they need to vote.
California: Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation have drafted a new map with five newly heavy-blue districts, Punchbowl reported, citing multiple unnamed lawmakers and aides, appeasing Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., who has asked the legislature to put a new map before voters in a November special election, an extra step that’s necessary to usurp the independent redistricting commission.
Florida: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has expressed interest in recent days in asking the state legislature to redraw Florida’s congressional districts, bolstered by Texas Republicans’ attempt to add more seats and a recent state Supreme Court decision that kept congressional district lines that favor Republicans in place: “It’s picking up steam,” Florida GOP Chair Evan Power told The Hill of the GOP’s redistricting attempt, adding, “we were probably heading there with the court decision, but Texas made it top news.”
Missouri: Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe has also expressed interest in possibly adding a GOP seat to the congressional map—which currently favors Republicans 6-2—ahead of next year’s midterms, telling Politico in a statement via his spokesperson Gabby Picard “we will always consider options.”
New York: Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul declared “war” this week over the national partisan redistricting battle in a press conference flanked by Texas Democrats who fled the state to block GOP gerrymandering, telling reporters she is weighing “every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible” in the wake of Texas Republicans’ move, which she called an “insurrection” to manipulate the midterm outcome.
New Jersey: Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy left open the possibility of redrawing the state congressional map to favor Democrats, telling The New Jersey Globe it’s “too early” to make a decision, but warning Democrats in the state would retaliate if Republicans unfairly add a significant number of seats in other states.
Illinois: Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who helped some of the Texas Democrats flee their state for his, also said this week redistricting is “on the table” in Illinois if Texas successfully adds five GOP seats.
Maryland: Democratic House Majority Leader David Moon said he would draft legislation to redraw the state’s congressional lines if any other state “cheats & draws new maps outside of the census period,” he wrote on X in June, citing Republican efforts in “Texas, Missouri & others.”
“We are entitled to five more seats [in Texas],” Trump told CNBC Tuesday, citing his 2024 electoral victory in the state.
219-212. That’s the party breakdown between Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives, with four vacancies, one in a seat previously held by a Republican and three previously held by Democrats.
Ohio must redraw its congressional map this year as the current map expires, and ongoing litigation in Georgia and Louisiana could also force those two states to establish new lines. Ohio, where congressional seats are split 10-5 in Republicans’ favor, is likely to gain additional GOP seats under the GOP-controlled state legislature.
Republican-led efforts to gerrymander new GOP-dominant districts have forced Democrats to backtrack on their previous support for nonpartisan redistricting processes, which disproportionately take place in Democrat-controlled states. For example, independent redistricting commissions—often advocated for by Democrats—drew a significantly larger share of seats that would have otherwise been drawn by Democrats in the wake of the 2020 census, compared to those that would have been drawn by Republicans.
Redistricting traditionally happens every 10 years, after a census cycle, though leaders of both parties this year are urging state lawmakers to gerrymander new congressional districts that could tilt the scales in their favor ahead of the midterm elections in 2026. The stakes are particularly high in Texas, where adding five Republican seats could significantly improve the party’s chances of maintaining control of Congress for the remainder of Trump’s term, if Democrats don’t retaliate to balance the scales.
Could Democrats Turn To Gerrymandering After Texas Redistricting Fight? Here’s What To Know (Forbes)
Texas Gov. Wants Democrats Who Left State Kicked Out Of Office. Can He Legally Do It? (Forbes)
Texas Redistricting Plan Could Give Republicans 5 Seats—But Democrats Are Fighting Back (Forbes)