An intense redistricting push before November’s elections has transformed congressional voting maps for millions of Americans across the nation — and the process continues to unfold.
Following President Donald Trump’s call for Texas Republicans to redraw U.S. House boundaries last year, GOP lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee have also approved new maps that may help their party secure additional seats in upcoming midterm contests. Louisiana appears poised to follow suit, while Alabama Republicans are challenging a court ruling that blocked their preferred map.
To date, Republicans believe their redistricting work could yield as many as 14 additional seats, while Democrats anticipate gaining six seats through new boundaries in California and Utah.
Trump is banking on this uncommon mid-decade redistricting to help Republicans maintain control of the narrowly divided House, even with unfavorable approval numbers and historical patterns showing the incumbent party typically loses seats during midterms.
Here’s an overview of recent developments in the redistricting fight:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April against Louisiana’s congressional map, striking down the plan that included two majority-Black districts represented by Democrats as an unlawful racial gerrymander. This decision led Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to delay Louisiana’s May 16 congressional primary until later in the summer, providing time for map revisions.
The state House is set to review a modified congressional map this week that would boost Republicans’ prospects of capturing one of those two seats. The Senate has already approved a different version of the updated map. Both chambers are working to reach agreement on a redistricting plan before their legislative session concludes on June 1.
Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall announced he is challenging a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday by a federal judicial panel that bars the state from implementing a Republican-designed House map in the midterm elections.
The judges determined the plan, featuring just one majority-Black district, “intentionally discriminated based on race.” They directed the state to keep using a court-mandated map with two districts where Black residents make up a majority or near-majority. Democrats currently represent both of those seats.
The Missouri Supreme Court has already dismissed two challenges to a new U.S. House map that improves Republicans’ odds of winning another seat by reconfiguring a Democratic-held district centered in Kansas City.
Judges will hear arguments Wednesday in a third challenge asserting that no extraordinary circumstances justified Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s decision to convene lawmakers for a special redistricting session last year.
As early in-person voting started Tuesday for South Carolina’s June 9 primaries, the Republican-controlled state Senate ended an effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts this year. A proposal previously approved by the House aimed to reshape the state’s sole Democratic-held district to improve Republicans’ winning chances.
However, some Republican senators argued it was too late for any modifications. Others worried the plan might backfire by incorporating too many Democratic voters into Republican-held districts.
Voting rights organizations argue Florida’s new congressional districts should be overturned for violating a state prohibition on intentional partisan gerrymandering. But a state judge on Tuesday refused to grant a preliminary injunction preventing use of the map in the midterm elections.
The judge stated the plaintiffs hadn’t demonstrated their partisanship claims were likely to prevail. Voting rights groups said they were rapidly appealing to a higher court and would pursue the case to the state Supreme Court if needed.
A federal court on Tuesday refused to grant a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit claiming Tennessee’s new U.S. House districts are racially discriminatory. The new Republican-designed map splits up a majority-Black district in Memphis — a city where over half the population is Black — improving Republicans’ chances of winning the state’s only Democratic-held seat.
This case represents one of several challenges to the map currently moving through the court system.
