Republicans in Texas are reportedly in talks with President Donald Trump’s political team over a plan to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries in an effort to gain seats (or mitigate losses) in the House of Representatives for the 2026 midterm elections.
The political party of an incumbent president typically loses seats in the House in midterm races that occur after their own electoral victories. In 2018, for example, Republicans lost 40 seats in the House after Trump had won the 2016 presidential race, while in 2022, two years after former President Joe Biden won the presidency, Democrats lost nine seats in the chamber.
According to a report from The New York Times, Trump’s political advisers are in talks with Texas state lawmakers about ways to mitigate possible losses in the 2026 midterms. The plan involves gerrymandering congressional district lines in the state to make Democratic districts more competitive while still keeping Republican seats safe. Proponents of the plan believe it could net Republicans four or five seats in addition to the 25 seats they already have in the state.
Uncompromised, uncompromising news
Get reliable, independent news and commentary delivered to your inbox every day.
Those potential seat wins could be critical on the national stage. According to an aggregate of polling data regarding the 2026 midterms, future control of the House will likely be tight, as surveys indicate a near-even split between the two major parties, with Democrats slightly leading in those polls. Currently, Republicans have control of the House, with 220 seats versus 212 held by Democrats. Three seats are vacant, due to the recent deaths of Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia).
Even if all three vacancies are filled by Republicans — which is very unlikely — Democrats would only need to pick up six seats in the midterms next year to flip control of the House. This would allow Democrats to block Trump’s legislative agenda, while also allowing them to have more oversight on his administration’s actions.
The redrawing of political maps in all 50 U.S. states happens after every census, which occurs every 10 years (the last census being in 2020). Redistricting the maps to favor Republicans before the next decennial census is not unprecedented, but would be highly unorthodox, and would likely be viewed as a clear gerrymandering scheme by Trump and Republicans to game the system in their favor. In that way, the plan could backfire on Republicans in the state, as the small sliver of independent voters could oppose the action and opt to vote for Democrats instead.
Some Republican members of Texas’s congressional delegation, who met in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening to discuss the idea, are also concerned that the redrawing of maps could hurt them personally, as the plan requires moving some of their reliably GOP-leaning voters to Democratic districts, leaving those Republicans in possible vulnerable positions.
Still, several Texas Republican officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have reportedly discussed the possibility of implementing the scheme over recent weeks, with talks becoming “more serious” in recent days, The Times reported. For the plan to move forward, Abbott would have to call a special session of the state legislature, as lawmakers are not slated to meet again in a regular session until 2027.
In a statement reacting to the report, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder blasted the plan by Trump and state Republicans to “hand-pick our members of Congress instead of letting Texans do it ourselves.”
“Donald Trump’s administration and policies are grossly unpopular, so he’s now taken to robbing seats in Congress to force his agenda on all of us,” Scudder said. “Texas Democrats are not going to just roll over and let them steal the voice of our state. We’re going to fight like hell and do whatever it takes to ensure that Texans get to choose our own representatives to the United States Congress who work for us, not for Donald Trump.”
John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), also criticized the scheme.
“This is yet another example of Trump trying to suppress votes in order to hold onto power,” Bisognano said.
Media that fights fascism
Truthout is funded almost entirely by readers — that’s why we can speak truth to power and cut against the mainstream narrative. But independent journalists at Truthout face mounting political repression under Trump.
We rely on your support to survive McCarthyist censorship. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation.