A Republican redistricting effort in Texas could lead to the GOP picking up five new seats in the House of Representatives, boosting Republican chances of maintaining control of Congress. As President Donald Trump backs the Texas Republicans’ efforts, Democrats are contemplating a number of political and legal responses to the plan.
The Republican plan to create new GOP districts for the midterm election
Texas Republicans are pushing through a redistricting effort in the state that would create several new Republican-leaning congressional districts. Texas lawmakers introduced their new state congressional map on Wednesday. The proposed map would eliminate Democratic constituencies in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio and shift incumbent Democrats into Republican-leaning districts. Overall, the new map would carve out five new districts that supported Trump by double digits in the most recent election. Though some incumbent Democrats may be able to hold on despite the new electoral map, experts believe that the change could shift Texas Republican representation in Congress from 25 to 30 seats.
Redistricting is usually done once per decade after the U.S. census is conducted to determine the number of districts allotted to each state. This unusual move to redistrict Texas in the middle of the decade is being pushed by Trump and carried out with the support of Gov. Greg Abbott. The move is intended to redraw district lines ahead of next year’s midterm elections, which would boost Republicans’ chances of holding or increasing their slim control of the House of Representatives. Trump has also been pushing Republicans in Ohio and Missouri to redistrict in order to create additional Republican seats in those states.
Democrats weigh response in Texas and elsewhere
Democrats in Texas and at the national level are growing increasingly frustrated with the Republican push to manipulate the redistricting process. In addition to framing the Texas effort as an effort by Republicans to manipulate the political process, Democrats are also contemplating a variety of strategies to fight these moves. One option may be for Democrats in the Texas state legislature to slow down the process by fleeing the state and denying Republicans a quorum for conducting new business. Texas Democrats, including then-state Rep. Jasmine Crockett, used this strategy in 2021 to delay Republican efforts to pass voting restrictions in the state.
Democrats are also looking into plans to counteract Republican redistricting by creating new Democratic districts in other states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pursuing efforts to enact a special election that would replace the state’s nonpartisan commission, which would enable California to redistrict and potentially create several new Democratic districts. Other Democratic-led states, including New York and Illinois, are also exploring their redistricting options, though all of these plans face potential legal challenges that might make them difficult to enact.
With political maneuvering for 2026 already underway, the coming weeks and months will be pivotal in deciding the congressional maps that Republicans and Democrats will face as they compete in Texas and other states around the nation. So far, Republicans appear to have an upper hand in the redistricting fight, but the attempts by the GOP to boost its 2026 chances is also galvanizing Democrats to take more aggressive efforts to fight for control of Congress.
