House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is welcoming talks between the White House and Texas Republicans centered on redrawing the state’s House district lines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

Jeffries said the state is already gerrymandered in favor of Republicans and that redistricting could make GOP-held districts more competitive. 

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“A lot of Democrats that we’ve talked to from Texas [have] actually come to the conclusion, based on the fact that the map is already gerrymandered at its height, that they could open up four to six swing seat opportunities that don’t exist right now for Democrats,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. 

Democrats would only need to flip three seats to end the Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives, an outcome Jeffries considers likely. In the past five presidencies, the party opposite the White House has gained control of the House in the midterm elections. However, 39 Democratic seats are rated competitive, while only 29 held by the GOP have received this ranking. 

Jeffries’s comments come as White House officials met with Texas Republicans for lunch on Thursday to discuss their plans for redistricting, leaving some GOP members wary of the plans and fearful that they could create less solidly red districts. 

“It’s certainly a head-scratcher,” one GOP staffer from Texas told the Washington Examiner. “Republicans in Texas are overall happy with the way the lines are drawn. The calculus of meddling with them is puzzling.”

Texas’s current district lines were finalized in 2021, and the state is not up for redistricting until 2030. Redrawing the district lines would require Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) to call a special session. 

In his comments to reporters, Jeffries referred to the mid-decade districting that occurred in North Carolina in 2023. From this redistricting, seven Democratic and seven Republican districts became 10-4 in favor of Republicans. 

“They stole three seats,” Jeffries said, hoping the redistricting in Texas will backfire on Republicans. “Instead of doing what they did in North Carolina, where they basically snatched victory from the jaws of electoral defeat that they were heading toward, they actually could provide enough seats in Texas alone for Democrats to take the majority back.”

TEXAS GOP AND WHITE HOUSE WEIGH OPTIONS TO REDISTRICT HOUSE SEATS

With Texas holding 38 of the 435 seats in Congress, Jeffries sees the state as a viable option to flip the House. 

“Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it,” Jeffries said. “And you won’t like the result.”