See how Texas redistricting maps could gain Trump more Republican seats in the House
At least 51 of 67 Texas Democratic lawmakers have fled the state, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered their arrests, and the Legislature has ground to a halt in a partisan dispute that could decide political control of Congress in 2026.
Republicans have proposed redrawing congressional districts in a way that could help the GOP gain five more House seats in the midterm election.
Democrats left to prevent a quorum, the minimum number of lawmakers needed to legally meet and enact legislation. The arrest warrants apply only within state lines.
That political move has spilled over state lines and ignited legislative disputes across the nation. That includes Illinois, New York and California, where governors are threatening to redraw their own maps to add Democratic-majority districts.
Here's what’s happening in Texas.
How Texas districts could change
Here's a before-and-after look at how Republicans propose to redraw Texas districts. Many changes are to districts democrats won in the 2024 election including those near El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.
Can't see our graphics? Click here to reload the page.
Right now there are 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats in the 435-seat U.S. House of Representatives. Trump’s political operatives fear Democratic victories in 2026 could hamper his final two years in office.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said Democrats would impeach Trump for a third time if they gained the majority in 2026. Trump is the only president to be impeached twice, both times when the Democrats held the majority in the House.
Trump has said his margin of victory in Texas in 2024 justifies changing the maps, which were introduced by a Texas legislative committee Aug. 2.
Trump would have won more districts in 2024 with proposed maps
Texas has 38 seats in the U.S. House, with 25 currently held by Republicans. According to reporting from the The Texas Tribune, the newly proposed maps would have allowed Trump to racked up victories in 30 Texas districts in the 2024 election — three more than the 27 districts he actually won.
Here's a closer look at how key districts could change. The first map shows how current districts voted. The second map shows how the proposed new boundaries might perform based on the Texas Tribune analysis.
Have voting district changes been disputed before?
Texas Democrats left the state capitol in May 2003 to prevent Republicans from redrawing congressional districts. The lines eventually were redrawn, the Tribune reported.
When do states draw new voting maps?
By law, state governments draw new congressional voting districts – geographic areas in which voters choose their representatives to Congress – every 10 years.
The districts are created using population changes from the Census Bureau, which updates the information every decade.
Some Democratic governors are pledging to counter Texas by creating maps in large blue states that would offset GOP gains by targeting Republican members of Congress, Paste BN said.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Savannah Kuchar, Philip M. Bailey, Greg Hilburn, Shawn J. Sullivan
Sources: Paste BN Network reporting and research; Reuters; Congressional Research Service; Census Bureau; The Texas Tribune; Texas Legislative Council