Texas Republicans have released their highly anticipated plan for how to tip the balance in their favor in next year’s midterms – redrawing the state’s congressional map in favor of more GOP seats.
Multiple Democratic sources said the new map shows that Republicans are attempting to gain five more congressional seats, which they hope will help their chances of holding onto the House majority in the 2026 midterms. Democrats plan to challenge the map in court.
It’s a potentially seismic moment for the House, with Democratic governors in states like California vowing to attempt the same tactics to help their party win more seats if Republicans did indeed do this in Texas – leading to what one House Democratic lawmaker described to CNN as a “redistricting arms race.”
The map – which was a top priority for President Donald Trump – targets multiple Democrats, including Rep. Greg Casar, whose Austin-area seat is completely eliminated. That would likely force him into a primary with another longtime liberal Democrat, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, in the Austin area.
Casar vowed to “fight back with everything we’ve got.”
“If Trump is allowed to rip the Voting Rights Act to shreds here in Central Texas, his ploy will spread like wildfire across the country,” Casar said in a statement. “Everyone who cares about our democracy must mobilize against this illegal map.”
It also seeks to oust the state’s two South Texas Democrats, Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, whose seats will become more GOP-leaning.
Republicans also propose merging the seat of Rep. Al Green with a vacant seat held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in office earlier this year.
The new map features 30 districts that Trump would have won in 2024, up from 27 under the current map.
In total, there are five more seats on the new map that Trump won by more than 10 percentage points.
It also makes the two South Texas seats currently represented by Cuellar and Gonzalez more Republican-leaning.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz contributed to this report. This is a developing story and will be updated.
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