GOP state legislators make headway; multiple other states looking at options.
Call it redistricting or gerrymandering, the Democratic Party has been effectively doing it for a long time, maximizing its seat count in the House of Representatives at the expense of the GOP. President Donald Trump, in his second White House term, has incited a Republican fight-back, though it is not all going smoothly.
A new Texas congressional district map was on ice due to a legal challenge. Now, it is temporarily back in play thanks to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who on Nov. 21 blocked a federal court ruling against the map. Indiana Republicans appeared loath to take up Trump’s plan to draw up a new map for the Hoosier State. Still, the wheels are in motion, and the Indiana State House addressed the matter on Dec. 1, while Florida’s Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting will meet on Dec. 4.
Indiana currently has nine congressional districts, only two of which are represented by Democrats. A new map could possibly give Republicans one additional seat. The push to redraw the Indiana map has the support of former Vice President Mike Pence.
Redistricting Resistance
Republican State Sen. Blake Doriot issued a statement that did not convey much confidence in the outcome. “In Indiana, redrawing our Congressional maps mid-cycle is not the best way for us to do that,” he opined. “Spreading out all of the Democrats in Lake and Marion counties across the rest of our districts will in no way guarantee a 9-0 map.” Doriot further explained that there aren’t any “well-established Republican candidates” campaigning for the seats representing “those hypothetical districts.”
The Florida situation is not too clear at this point. Even some members of the redistricting committee were reportedly surprised that a Dec. 4 meeting had been scheduled. The current congressional map gives the GOP a consistent 20-8 advantage in seats over the Democrats.
Elsewhere, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has threatened to push a redistricting effort, but he governs what is perhaps already the most gerrymandered state in the nation. With some 12.9 million inhabitants, only three of the state’s 17 congressional districts are represented by Republicans.
Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Missouri are all looking at redistricting that would favor Republicans in 2026, the last state being the furthest along in the process. Republicans in North Carolina recently had their new map approved in court. For Democrats, California is moving ahead with changes, and Maryland and New York have indicated they could join what has become a nationwide partisan redistricting war.
A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Virginia may also redraw the districts, which could possibly give Democrats two or three additional seats. Meanwhile, Republicans in Utah are challenging a judge’s order that they throw out a map with two safe and two likely GOP seats for another version that gives Democrats one safe seat.
Several of the most populous states with Democrat governors and Democrat-controlled legislatures have already minimized, as much as possible, the chances that Republicans can hold no more than a fraction of the House seats. That’s a rather contradictory position for a party constantly claiming to be fighting for democracy. The great irony is that Democrats are indeed taking full advantage of the fact that the United States of America is not a democracy but a republic.
In red states, the GOP is now trying to keep up. But it somehow seems that, while Democrats have a clear path to redrawing congressional maps, Republicans are beset with legal hurdles. For now, it is practically impossible to paint a full and accurate picture of what the 2026 congressional district landscape looks like.
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