A federal court has barred Texas from using its redrawn congressional map, dealing a blow to Republicans who hoped the map would help the party maintain control in next year’s midterm elections.
Texas must instead use the map the legislature enacted in 2021, according to the ruling signed by U.S. District Judge Jeff Brown, an appointee of President Donald Trump. The ruling, issued Tuesday, will likely be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here’s what to know about the redrawn map and ruling.
How did this start?
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Trump asked Gov. Greg Abbott to add the redrawing of the state’s congressional boundaries to this summer’s special legislative session agenda.
Historically, the party that controls the White House suffers losses in midterm elections, and Trump hoped the new map could soften the blow or even help the GOP maintain control of the U.S. House.
The new map was designed for Republicans to flip five seats currently held by Democrats — one each in Dallas-Fort Worth, the Houston area, Central Texas, South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
Democrats fled the state to break quorum and block a vote, but Republican lawmakers eventually approved the new map, which was quickly signed by Abbott.
“Texas is now more red in the United States Congress,” Abbott said in a video posted on social media of him signing the measure.
Although Democrats were unsuccessful in blocking a vote, they did bring national attention to the rare mid-decade redistricting.
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Other states joined the fray
The map set off a frenzy of redistricting. Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat in each. To counter, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.
Texas lawsuit
In September, several advocacy groups sued the state to block the map, arguing that Texas lawmakers intentionally diluted the power of Black and Latino voters when redrawing the map.
The three-member panel agreed 2-1 with the map’s critics, concluding that Abbott and Republicans acted after a letter from the head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in July, directing Texas to redraw four districts that it said violated the Voting Rights Act.
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” the ruling says.
What do lawmakers say?
Democrats immediately applauded the decision. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, one of the representatives targeted by the redrawn map, said he would file for reelection.
“The Republicans overstepped their bounds…everything about the process was discriminatory,” he said. “It was done very sloppily and with a lot of deceit and subterfuge towards Texans.”
Texas state Rep. Gene Wu, who leads House Democrats, said “a federal court just stopped one of the most brazen attempts to steal our democracy that Texas has ever seen.”
Staff writer Gromer Jeffers contributed to this report.