Right now, Republicans have a 219-to-212 majority, with four vacancies. Now, California Governor Gavin Newsom is threatening to call a special legislative session to pass an "urgency measure" to draw a new Congressional map. The goal would be to squeeze out two to five of the state's last nine GOP House incumbents.
In 2010, California voters gave the power to draw congressional districts to an independent redistricting commission. Though Democrats dominate California, the commission is made up of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four commissioners who are unaffiliated.
But never one to let the will of the people to get in his way, Newsom has another scheme to allow the legislature to create its own maps and ignore the existence of the commission.
Now, Texas is debating a new map that could create more GOP seats from the Lone Star State. Republicans now hold 25 of the 38 congressional districts.
Republican lawmakers have begun fielding proposals for the GOP-controlled Texas legislature to redraw their congressional maps in the middle of the decade to give the national party an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.
Left-leaning online news site VOX reports Republicans have the upper hand on redistricting. In the majority of states across the country, state legislatures have the primary control and power to draw district lines. That includes the three states where Republicans have signaled they will try to redraw maps before the 2026 midterms — Texas, Ohio, and Missouri — all in which the GOP has unified control of the legislature and the governor’s office.
Through redistricting these states alone, Republicans would be able to gain enough seats to secure a majority after midterm elections, claims VOX. They’d gain about five seats in Texas, anywhere from one to three seats in Ohio, and one seat in Missouri. Republicans currently have a three-seat majority in the House, as a result of resignations and deaths, which shrinks to a two-seat majority if all those vacancies are filled.
And there are still more Republican-run states that could be tapped. As Punchbowl News reported this week, five Democratic-held seats could be threatened in Florida if Gov. Ron DeSantis agrees to a mid-decade redraw. And New Hampshire’s governor, Kelly Ayotte, could still be convinced by the White House to consider state Republicans’ past plans to create another Republican-friendly seat in the state.
Other Republican-leaning states — like Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska — are limited from redrawing maps before 2026 by Democratic governors, more moderate Republican legislators and state courts, or the fact that their legislatures aren’t in session.
Even the Leftwing Los Angeles Times isn’t buying Newsome’s power grab, writing “The threatened move is a long shot and, more than anything, a ploy to boost Newsom’s White House ambitions. It’s also highly presumptuous on his part, reflecting an increased arrogance among lawmakers around the country who are saying to voters, in effect, ‘Thank you for your input. Now go away.’”
- gerrymandering
- Supreme Court
- 2026 Election
- Redistricting
- GOP House majority
- Trump administration
- Gov. Gavin Newsom
- California Independent Commission
- Texas redistricting
- Texas legislature
- Ohio redistricting
- Missouri redistricting
