The Texas State Capitol on August 11, 2025, in Austin, Texas, USA, on the day a new session of the Texas House of Representatives begins after Democratic lawmakers left the state to deny Republicans the chance to redistrict the state’s 38 congressional districts.
Sergio Flores | Reuters
A federal court in Texas on Tuesday blocked Texas’ use of new congressional maps aimed at shifting several Democratic-held U.S. House seats to Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, accusing Gov. Greg Abbott of directing the Legislature to draw congressional maps based on race.
The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel was a major blow to Texas Republicans. Republicans had been urged by President Donald Trump to redraw state House district lines to maximize the number of electable Republicans to protect the party’s narrow U.S. House majority.
Texas’ move to draw new maps could flip up to five seats previously held by Democrats to Republicans, sparking partisan redistricting battles across the country in both Republican-governed and Democratic-led states.
An El Paso-based judicial panel ruled in favor of the civil rights groups that challenged the map, finding “substantial evidence that Texas has engaged in racial gerrymandering.”
Gerrymandering involves redrawing electoral district lines to alienate certain voters and increase the influence of others. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court barred federal courts from intervening in cases involving gerrymandering carried out for partisan gain. Gerrymandering, which is primarily racially motivated, remains illegal.
Tuesday’s ruling found that after receiving a letter from the Trump Justice Department, Mr. Abbott directed state lawmakers who were initially reluctant to redraw the maps to redraw them.
The court said the letter made “legally inaccurate assertions” and threatened legal action against the state unless the map was redrawn in accordance with the Department of Justice’s recommendations. The court found that Texas lawmakers’ adoption of racial objectives in drawing the map violated the U.S. Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law and protection from racial discrimination in voting.
Texas Democrats and civil rights groups had argued that the new map would further weaken the voting power of racial minorities, in violation of federal law. “Texas’s population is only 40% white, but white voters control more than 73% of the state’s legislative seats,” the civil rights group NAACP said in a statement Tuesday.
Tuesday’s ruling criticized Mr. Abbott’s actions to comply with the Trump administration’s demands, saying, “The governor has clearly directed the Legislature to redistrict on the basis of race.”
“Claims that these maps are discriminatory are absurd,” Abbott said in a statement. The governor said Texas will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court ordered that parliamentary elections in 2026 be held based on the previous map approved by parliament in 2021. Its 2021 map shows Republicans controlling 25 of Texas’ 38 House seats.
President Trump has demanded that Republican-led states redraw their congressional maps so that Republicans can maintain a majority in the House.
Tuesday’s ruling marked the latest setback in President Trump’s efforts to tilt the political map. Indiana Republicans on Friday abandoned the Legislature that had been convened to enact a new congressional map.
Democratic-controlled California responded to Texas’ redistricting by launching its own initiative targeting five Republican-controlled districts in the state. California voters overwhelmingly approved new maps favoring Democrats in November. The Trump administration sued California last week to prevent the new district maps from taking effect.
Virginia is moving forward with plans to redraw its political maps, and if a Texas court ruling stands, Democrats could have an advantage in the redistricting battle.
