By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A major shakeup could be brewing for congressional district maps across the country.
Republicans in Texas are attempting to redraw the state’s congressional lines to gain as many as five House seats, but Democratic state lawmakers have fled—leaving the state to block a vote on the proposed map.
The redistricting fight in Texas isn’t just a statehouse scuffle—it’s the opening move in what’s shaping up to be a nationwide political chess match with potentially huge ramifications.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session to approve newly drawn maps for several congressional districts—a process known as redistricting that is carried out at the state level once each decade following the U.S. Census.
But a mid-decade redistricting effort, backed by former President Donald Trump and protested by state Democratic lawmakers, has now led to civil arrest warrants—prompting Democrats in Austin to skip town and flee to blue states like New York.
The redistricting ripple effect is already spreading, with GOP-led states considering copycat moves and Democratic governors ready to retaliate.
In an op-ed Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said:
“We are also reviewing every legal and legislative option to redraw our own maps in New York. If Republicans are changing the rules, we’ll meet them on the same field, with strategy, with resolve and without apology.”
Congressional Republicans in blue states are firing back.
“She wants to rig our elections with new illegal mid-decade redistricting. It’s a blatant power grab,” said Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.). “New York’s Constitution is clear. Redistricting happens once a decade, not whenever the governor feels like she should do it.”
Casey Burgat, associate professor and director of legislative affairs at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, said there’s no universal rule on when or how states must handle redistricting.
“There’s no federal mandate about what has to happen when redistricting comes about. And we see a wild amount of variation between states about who decides ultimately how these districts are drawn,” Burgat said.
In Texas, the state legislature is responsible for conducting the process following the census. In some states, however, there is nothing that prevents legislatures from redistricting more often.
Oftentimes, the party in power at the time of redistricting will use their majority to draw new lines that benefit their party—a practice known as gerrymandering. A common sign of gerrymandering is when the majority party draws maps that pack voters who support the opposing party into a few districts, thus allowing the majority party to win a greater number of surrounding districts.
The controversial practice—often criticized by the party that gets the short end of the stick—has a long history in the U.S.
“The United States is littered with a history of gerrymandering, going back all the way to the founding, the first couple of districts,” Burgat said. “We’ve had gerrymandering from across a bunch of different states, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican. But now we have the President of the United States calling for it outright, saying, ‘Give me these seats.’”
Burgat warned against fueling a redistricting arms race in today’s political climate.
“Just like when two kids fight, the volume always goes up. It never just rationally settles down. And that’s likely what we’re going to see here when we see states go back and forth based on what one state does,” he said. “It’s just an escalation in an era where there’s been too many of them. We need to tamp down this type of partisan aggressiveness and really let the institutions be the institutions,” Burgat added.
If Texas Republicans are successful, this redistricting arms race could become a new front in the battle for control of Congress—just over a year before the 2026 midterms.
