AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 07: Sen. Phil King (R-TX) displays a map during a Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting public testimony hearing on August 07, 2025 in Austin, Texas. The Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting met to hear public testimony on Congressional plan C2308. Earlier this week, Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state in an attempt to protest and deny quorum for votes on the proposed Republican redistricting plan, which would secure five additional GOP seats in the U.S. House. Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to remove lawmakers who do not return and has asked the Texas Supreme Court to expel House Democratic leaders who fled the state. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(Brandon Bell via Getty Images)
Federal Court Blocks Texas’ Controversial Congressional Map Ahead of 2026 Elections
A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a newly redrawn U.S. House map, a move that sparked a nationwide redistricting battle and represents a key part of President Donald Trump’s effort to maintain a narrow Republican majority heading into the 2026 elections.
Texas was the first state this summer to implement changes in line with Trump’s priorities, as part of a broader national debate over redistricting. The GOP’s new map in Texas would have added five Republican-leaning seats. Missouri and North Carolina followed suit, adding one additional Republican seat each, while California voters approved a ballot initiative giving Democrats five extra seats.
FILE – The State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“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 states.
The 2-1 decision came after a nearly two-week trial in El Paso, Texas. Texas is expected to appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court under federal law governing redistricting lawsuits.
A coalition of civil rights groups representing Black and Hispanic voters argued that the new map diluted minority voting power, amounting to a racial gerrymander that violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. They sought to block Texas from using the new map while the case proceeds, which would mean relying on the 2021 map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature for next year’s elections.
The judges granted the request, signaling that the challengers have a substantial chance of winning at trial. The majority included appointees of President Trump and Democratic President Barack Obama, while a Reagan-era appointee dissented.
“Without an injunction, the racial minorities the Plaintiff Groups represent will be forced to be represented in Congress based on likely unconstitutional racial classifications for at least two years,” the ruling said.
During legislative debates this summer, Texas Republicans openly stated their goal was to redraw districts to help the GOP win more seats. While the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed states to pursue partisan gerrymandering, the appeals judges said a major factor behind the redistricting was a July letter from the head of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, directing Texas to redraw four districts it said violated the Voting Rights Act.
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general overseeing the division, cited a 2024 ruling by the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the Voting Rights Act does not allow separate minority groups to “aggregate their populations” to claim a map illegally dilutes minority voters. According to Dhillon, “coalition” districts—where minority voters collectively outnumber non-Hispanic white voters but no single group has a majority—must be dismantled as remnants of past racial gerrymandering.
“The Legislature adopted those racial objectives,” the majority ruling said. “The redistricting bill’s sponsors made numerous statements suggesting that they had intentionally manipulated the districts’ lines to create more majority-Hispanic and majority-Black districts.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Currently, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats, while Democrats hold two of 13 districts Trump carried in 2024. Had the new map been used last year, Trump would have carried 30 congressional districts by 10 percentage points or more, likely giving the GOP that many seats.
Democrats nationwide have criticized the Texas redistricting effort as a power grab by Trump to prevent congressional oversight, while Republicans have framed it as a necessary step to preserve their majority and avoid losses like those in the 2018 midterms, when Democrats gained control of the House and twice impeached Trump.
The new map reduces the number of congressional districts where minorities make up the majority of voting-age citizens from 16 to 14, eliminating five of nine coalition districts. Five of six Democratic incumbents drawn into contested districts are Black or Hispanic.
Republicans argue the map benefits minority voters, citing the creation of an eighth Hispanic-majority district and two new Black-majority districts. Critics counter that these districts have slim majorities and that higher turnout among white voters will likely determine election outcomes, making the new districts largely symbolic.