Texas Republicans released a draft congressional district map Wednesday that could net them as many as five more seats in the U.S. House, as the GOP seeks to shore up its numbers ahead of what it fears will be a tough 2026 election.
The new map seeks to shift current Democrat-held seats in the state’s major metropolitan areas more toward Republicans, giving them chances to improve on their current 25-12 split in the state’s delegation to the House.
Democrats labeled the effort a “power grab” meant to benefit President Trump and prepared to flee the state to try to block the legislature from approving updated maps — setting up a clash with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who has said they should be arrested if they “run away and hide like cowards.”
If Gov. Greg Abbott ends up signing changes, it could start dominoes tumbling in blue states, where Democrats have said they could revisit their lines to try to squeeze more congressional seats out of their maps.
Mr. Abbott said he expects that to happen.
“This is a national-based issue. Don’t think Texas is the only state that’s doing this,” the Republican governor told the Texas Trio, a political affairs program. “Texas is the first in line because our primaries are earlier.”
The Texas legislature is meeting in special session now, and Mr. Abbott put redistricting on the agenda.
The map from state Rep. Todd Hunter on Wednesday is the first to be submitted, and is seen as an opening ante in what’s expected to be fierce negotiations.
The map consolidates people who generally have voted Democratic in past elections into a handful of districts, then spreads GOP voters around in other areas, shifting the voting potential.
It also creates potential primary battles between several pairs of Democrats whose would see large portions of their current constituencies thrown into the same district.
The Texas Tribune reported that under the proposed lines, Mr. Trump would have carried 30 of the 38 districts. Last year he carried 27 of them, and Republicans won the House races in 25 of them.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Texas Democrat who would stand to have her current district packed with more Democratic voters, said the map is an attempt to cheat voters eager to express their displeasure with Mr. Trump’s tenure.
“This is about every voter in Texas who expects fair representation. It’s about protecting the American principle that people choose their elected leaders, not the other way around,” she said.
Usually redistricting is done after each decennial census, but it can happen at any time.
Indeed, Democrats did the same thing in New York in 2024, netting three seats in last year’s election.
Now, New York Democrats are threatening another round of redistricting if Texas moves forward with Republicans’ plans.
Democrats accused Mr. Trump of pushing GOP-led states to consider redistricting.
As evidence, they pointed to a recent letter from the Justice Department to Texas saying at least four of the state’s congressional districts may be illegal “coalition districts,” drawn specifically to maximize minority voting power.
Mr. Abbott said that letter prompted him to pursue redistricting.
“We are no longer compelled to have coalition districts and as a result we can draw maps to not have coalition districts, and through that process maximizing the ability of Texans to be able to vote for their candidate of choice,” the governor told Texas Trio.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.