WASHINGTON (AP) — Redistricting usually happens after the once-a-decade population count by the U.S. Census Bureau or in response to a court ruling. Now, Texas Republicans want to break that tradition — and other states could follow suit.
Democrats in Texas' House to prevent the vote on a redistricting plan that would send five more Republicans to Washington after the 2026 midterm elections and make it harder for Democrats to regain the majority and blunt the president's agenda.
The state has 38 seats in the House. Republicans now hold 25 and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant after the death of a Democrat.
“There’s been a lot more efforts by the parties and political actors to push the boundaries – literally and figuratively – to reconfigure what the game is,” said Doug Spencer, Rothgerber Jr. Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of Colorado.
Other states are waiting and .
The rules of redistricting can be vague and variable; each state has its own set of rules and procedures. Politicians are gauging what voters will tolerate when it comes to politically motivated mapmaking.
Here’s what to know about the rules of congressional redistricting:
When does redistricting normally happen?
Every decade, the Census Bureau collects population data used to divide the 435 House seats among the 50 states based on the updated head count.
It's a process known as reapportionment. States that grew relative to others might gain a seat at the expense of those whose populations stagnated or declined.
States use their own procedures to draw lines for the assigned number of districts. The smallest states receive just one representative, which means the entire state is a single congressional district.
Some state constitutions require independent commissions to devise the political boundaries or to advise the legislature. When legislatures take the lead, lawmakers can risk drawing lines that end up challenged in court, usually for violating the Voting Rights Act. Mapmakers can get another chance to resubmit new maps. Sometimes, judges draw the maps on their own.
Is midcycle redistricting allowed?
By the first midterm elections after the latest population count, each state is ready with its maps, but those districts do not always stick. Courts can find that the political lines are unconstitutional.
There is no national impediment to a state trying to redraw districts in the middle of the decade and to do it for political reasons, such as increasing representation by the party in power.
“The laws about redistricting just say you have to redistrict after every census,” Spencer said. “And then some state legislatures got a little clever and said, well it doesn’t say we can’t do it more.”
Some states do have laws that would prevent midcycle redistricting or make it difficult to do so in a way that benefits one party.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., has threatened to retaliate against the GOP push in Texas by drawing more favorable Democratic seats in his state. That goal, however, is complicated by a constitutional amendment that requires an independent commission to lead the process.
Is Texas’ effort unprecedented?
Texas has done it before.
When the Legislature failed to agree on a redistricting plan after the 2000 census, a federal court stepped in with its own map.
Republican Tom DeLay of Texas, who was then the U.S. House majority leader, thought his state should have five more districts friendly to his party. “I’m the majority leader and we want more seats,′′ he said at the time.
Statehouse Democrats protested by fleeing to Oklahoma and depriving the Legislature of enough votes to officially conduct any business. But DeLay eventually got his way, and Republicans replaced Democrats in five seats in 2004.
Now, a large chunk of Texas Democrats have decided to take that same route, heading to Illinois to break quorum.
What do the courts say about gerrymandering?
In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts should not get involved in debates over political gerrymandering, the practice of drawing districts for partisan gain. In that decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said redistricting is “ ”
But courts may demand new maps if they believe the congressional boundaries , in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
Could other states follow suit?
Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads House Democrats' campaign arm, indicated at a Christian Science Monitor event that if Texas follows through on passing new maps, Democratic-led states would look at their own political lines.
“If they go down this path, absolutely folks are going to respond across the country,” DelBene said. “We're not going to be sitting back with one hand tied behind our back while Republicans try to undermine voices of the American people.”
In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently joined Newsom in expressing openness to taking up mid-decade redistricting. But state laws mandating independent commissions or blunting the ability to gerrymander would come into play.
Among Republican-led states, Ohio could try to further expand the 10-5 edge that the GOP holds in the House delegation; a quirk in state law before the 2026 midterms.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was considering early redistricting and “working through what that would look like.”
