AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed into law a new congressional voting map designed to help Republicans gain more seats in the 2026 midterm elections, delivering a win for President Donald Trump and his desire to hold onto a slim GOP majority in the U.S. House.
The Texas map drafted in rare mid-decade redistricting prompted fierce protests from Democrats and sparked a gerrymandering tug-of-war for voters in states across the country.
Before Texas lawmakers passed their new map, California had passed a bill that will ask voters to approve new Democratic-leaning districts to counter any Republican gains in Texas.
The incumbent president’s party usually loses congressional seats in the midterm election. On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing districts puts Democrats within three seats of a majority.
Texas Democrats have vowed to challenge the new map in court. They delayed a vote in the state House by two weeks by fleeing Texas in July in protest and to rally support nationally. And they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday’s session.
But the large Republican majority in the Texas Legislature made its ultimate passage all but inevitable.
Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing in court that it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice.
Republican leaders have denied the map is racially discriminatory and contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. They have also been explicit in their desire to draw a new map for a goal of electing more Republicans.
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