By JIM VERTUNO, SOPHIE AUSTIN, TRÂN NGUYỄN and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans were aiming Friday to give final passage to an unprecedented mid-decade redraw of the state’s congressional map and send it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for final approval ahead of the 2026 elections.
Debate in the GOP-controlled Senate could last for hours, but it was expected to proceed more smoothly than the fiery showdown in the House that ignited a broader, state-by-state redistricting battle, with governors from both parties vowing to redraw their congressional lines.
“I had two goals in mind: That all maps would be legal and would be better for Republican congressional candidates in Texas,” state Sen. Phil King, who sponsored the measure, said as debate got underway.”
California Democrats landed their counterpunch to Texas on Thursday. Lawmakers there voted mostly along party lines to approve legislation calling for a special election in November to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year.
That move came a day after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at the urging of President Donald Trump.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had rallied Democrats in his state to counter Texas’ initial moves, quickly signed the special election bill on Thursday. If Republicans in Texas finalize their map Friday, Abbott is expected to follow suit.
The back-and-forth between the two states marks the starkest escalation yet in the emerging redistricting war, with both parties openly redrawing congressional lines to lock in power ahead of the 2026 elections.
“This is not something six weeks ago that I ever imagined that I’d be doing,” Newsom said at a news conference Thursday, pledging a campaign for the measure that would reach out to Democrats, Republicans and independent voters. “This is a reaction to an assault on our democracy in Texas.”
California Republicans have sued and called for a federal investigation into the plan. They promise to fight the measure at the ballot box as well.
California Assemblyman James Gallagher, the Republican minority leader, said Trump was “wrong” to push for new Republican seats elsewhere, contending the president was just responding to Democratic gerrymandering in other states. But he warned that Newsom’s approach, which the governor has dubbed “fight fire with fire,” was dangerous.
“You move forward fighting fire with fire and what happens?” Gallagher asked. “You burn it all down.”
A battle for the US House control waged via redistricting
On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing districts puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. The incumbent president’s party usually loses congressional seats in the midterms.
The president has pushed other Republican-controlled states including Indiana and Missouri to also revise their maps to add more winnable GOP seats. Ohio Republicans were also already scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan.
Redistricting typically occurs once a decade, immediately after a census. While some states have their own limitations, there is no national impediment to a state trying to redraw districts in the middle of the decade.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also said the Constitution does not outlaw partisan gerrymandering, only using race to redraw district lines.
Democrats have sought a national commission for redistricting
Republicans and some Democrats championed the 2008 ballot measure that established California’s nonpartisan redistricting commission, along with the 2010 one that extended its role to drawing congressional maps.
Newsom backed the initial redistricting commission ballot measures. On Thursday, he contended his state was still setting a model.
“We’ll be the first state in U.S. history, in the most democratic way, to submit to the people of our state the ability to determine their own maps,” Newsom said before signing the legislation.
Former President Barack Obama, who has also backed a nationwide nonpartisan approach, has also backed Newsom’s bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP’s Texas move.
California’s plan is temporary
The measure would have the California map last only through 2030, after which the state’s commission would draw the next decade’s map. Democrats are also mulling reopening Maryland’s and New York’s maps for mid-decade redraws.
However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California’s or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can’t draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval.
In Texas, outnumbered Democrats left the state for 15 days to block a vote. Once they returned, they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring.
California Republicans didn’t take such dramatic steps but complained bitterly about Democrats muscling the package through the statehouse.
“What you’re striving for is predetermined elections,” Strickland said. “You’re taking the voice away from Californians.”
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Riccardi reported from Denver. Austin and Nguyen reported from Sacramento, California. Associated Press reporter Joey Cappelletti in Washington, D.C., also contributed.