President Donald Trump’s call for Texas to redraw its congressional seats mid-decade has sparked a “redistricting arms race,” featuring states such as New York, Missouri and California. As the November 2026 midterm elections approach, both the Republicans and Democrats hope to gain control of the House of Representatives, with the Democrats only needing three more seats to flip the majority.
Elections for the House are held every two years, with state governments drawing boundaries that define each district. The redrawing of these boundaries — known as redistricting — can change the demographic makeup of each district, and thus allow one political party to gain more seats than another. Some states have independent commissions that draw congressional maps to ensure that the districts do not favor a certain party over another. Yet gerrymandering, where one party draws districts for political advantage, remains common.
On Aug. 29, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a new congressional map that would make Texas “more red in the United States Congress,” as he said during the signing. In response, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a plan allowing voters to decide whether or not to redraw their congressional map. If approved, the new map would counter the five Republican-leaning seats that the gerrymandering in Texas added. New York and Maryland, which also have Democratic-run state legislatures, have also confirmed plans to redraw their maps. However, most other blue states have state laws restricting any effort to redistrict. In order to change these constitutional laws, they would need legislative and voter approval, which would require funding and time.
Most experts agree that the Democrats have little chance of winning the “redistricting war,” given how many seats are possible for them to flip. Missouri is the latest state to introduce a plan to help Republicans secure more seats at the request of President Trump; it is expected to be signed by Governor Mike Kehoe soon.
In response, lawmakers and citizens have turned to the courts to try and block the gerrymandering. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law joined the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in accusing the Texas legislation of racial gerrymandering, which is the illegal reduction of the voting power of a racial group. The LULAC had previously filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that Texas’s congressional maps discriminated against Latinos. On October 1, federal judges in El Paso began deciding whether or not Texas’s gerrymandered map can be used.
“The state of Texas is only 40% white, but white voters control over 73% of the state’s congressional seats,” said the NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.
Texas’s redistricting demonstrates the need for nationwide laws or restrictions on gerrymandering, especially given Trump’s recent grabs at further political power. The Supreme Court needs to take a stance, rather than let lawsuits decide whether or not partisan gerrymandering is harmful. Gerrymandering allows the will of the majority to be ignored in favor of minority rule. No matter which side gerrymanders, the end result is the erosion of democracy as a whole.
