Efforts championed by U.S. President Donald Trump to redraw congressional maps in ways that benefit Republican candidates are increasingly running into legal, political and logistical resistance.
In recent weeks, challenges have emerged in Texas, Utah and Indiana as Republicans attempt to reshape districts to gain additional seats. At the same time, Democrats have notched a significant redistricting win in California.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump’s direct involvement in redistricting efforts in GOP-led states is colliding with court rulings, state-level politics and timing issues. These map battles are part of a wider national struggle in which both Republicans and Democrats are using redistricting to shape future election outcomes.
The stakes are high: redistricting could significantly influence upcoming contests, including the November 2026 midterm elections. Those races will help determine control of Congress—and, by extension, how effectively Trump can advance his priorities. Republicans currently hold a slim 219–214 majority in the House of Representatives, so marginal changes in district lines could be decisive.
What To Know
Republicans have recently suffered notable setbacks in several states:
- Texas: A panel of federal judges ruled that the state cannot use a newly drawn Republican congressional map, finding “substantial evidence” that the map was racially gerrymandered. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said he will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and seek a stay of the order.
- Indiana: The GOP-controlled Indiana State Senate declined to return to the Capitol for a special session to draw new congressional districts. Some Republican senators argued the proposed map would not strengthen their party’s position and urged Republicans to focus their efforts elsewhere.
- Utah: Earlier this month, a judge adopted a congressional map that improves Democrats’ odds of winning at least one seat in the solidly Republican state. A GOP-backed map was rejected for failing to comply with state law. Republican Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said appealing the decision would be difficult due to the timing of the judge’s ruling.
Democrats, meanwhile, have made gains:
- California: On November 4, voters approved Proposition 50, an amendment backed by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom that temporarily revises the state’s congressional map. The change is expected to bolster Democratic prospects in future elections.
Republicans have not been shut out, however. New maps in Missouri and North Carolina have been approved and are viewed as favorable to the GOP, though both face ongoing legal challenges. In Missouri, the map is also subject to a referendum petition that could place it before voters.
Calvin Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas, told Newsweek that “President Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push has hit a number of speed bumps in recent days,” including in Texas. But he noted that the U.S. Supreme Court “has in a series of cases over the past decade held that courts should respect redistricting decisions made by state legislatures even for explicitly partisan, though not for racially discriminatory, purposes.”
“If the high court concludes that partisan purposes drove Texas’ redistricting, and not racial animus, they might still pull Trump’s chestnuts out of the fire in the coming days,” he added
What Happens Next
Mid-decade redistricting efforts are likely to continue:
- Lawmakers in Louisiana and Virginia have recently advanced plans that could permit new maps ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
- Other states, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Maryland, are also weighing whether to pursue mid-decade map changes.
How these overlapping legal fights are resolved could reshape the electoral landscape—and determine how much Trump and his allies ultimately gain from the redistricting battles they helped ignite.
