Democrats Submit Bill Aimed at Limiting GOP’s Mid-Census Gerrymandering Scheme

This week, a group of senators — three Democrats and one independent — introduced legislation that aims to reform the redistricting process and eliminate gerrymandering in every state in the country.

The proposed bill would forbid redrawing maps between census cycles, which is currently being performed by several Republican-led states seeking to subvert the will of voters in order to ensure a GOP-majority Congress in the second half of President Donald Trump’s term.

The Redistricting Reform Act, sponsored by Senators Alex Padilla (D-California), Adam Schiff (D-California), Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) and Angus King (I-Maine), is similar to a House version of the bill introduced by a group of Democrats last week. The legislation aims to eradicate gerrymandering by placing certain conditions on states when it comes to redistricting, mimicking the way Maine produces its congressional maps.

Those conditions include:

• Requiring that states comply with the U.S. Constitution as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal laws relating to elections (including the bill itself, if it passes);
• Establishing commissions that represent, equally, the top two parties that won previous state legislative races;
• Ensuring that “minorities receive equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect their preferred candidates”; and
• Requiring commissions to “respect communities of interest” and “representational needs based on common ethnic, racial, economic, Tribal, social, cultural, geographic, or historic identities, or arising from similar socioeconomic conditions.”

The bill forbids any state commission from drawing maps that favor one political party over another. It also enacts strict rules regarding who parties can select to serve on the commission, stipulating that the commission can not include members who, for a certain period of time (as determined by the states), hold or have held public office, have been candidates for public office, or have served or currently serve “as an officer, employee, or paid consultant of a campaign committee of a candidate for public office.”

Redistricting could only occur immediately after a census count is taken. Beyond that, states could only change their maps if they were required to do so by a judicial decree.

Although the bill has been submitted by Democratic lawmakers in past congressional terms, it has recently taken on new importance, as Trump’s political team is strategizing with several Republican states to redraw maps this year to mitigate potential losses in the 2026 midterm elections. Typically, the party of the president loses congressional seats in the midterms, but by redistricting now instead of waiting until the next census, Republicans can potentially keep control of both houses of Congress if the midterms end up being close.

Several states, including Kansas, Utah, and others, are considering redrawing their maps to eliminate Democratic-majority districts; Missouri and Texas have already redrawn their maps to do so. California, which is led by Democrats, will have a ballot initiative this year to redraw its maps, with hopes of matching the Democratic losses that will be felt by these Republican states’ actions.

“Abusing the redistricting process is one of the most serious threats to democracy and our Constitution,” King said in a statement regarding the bill. “Not only does partisan and off-schedule redistricting damage and disenfranchise American citizens’ fundamental right to vote, but it also contributes to rising polarization in Congress and further diminishes public faith in our political process.”

Several other House Democrats have called for passing the Redistricting Reform Act to address abuse of power by Republicans, noting that, with myriad polling data demonstrating Democrats are preferred by American voters to run Congress beyond 2026, this mid-census redrawing of maps is a flagrant attempt to game the system.

“President Trump has unleashed a redistricting war across the country, calling up Republican-controlled states and demanding that they rig their maps. Why? Because he’s an unpopular President who has stripped healthcare from millions, and he knows that rigging the redistricting process is the only way his party doesn’t lose the House in 2026,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) said regarding the House version of the bill.

“Republicans are failing. Their policies are unpopular. Instead of trying to win on the issues, they are attempting to rig the outcome of the election and silencing Brown and Black voices,” Rep. Marc Veasy (D-Texas) said. “Texas was the beginning of their scheme, and we won’t stand by as it happens across the country.”

Polling shows that, when it comes to how congressional and state legislative maps should be redrawn, the vast majority of Americans support ideas like those presented in the Redistricting Reform Act.

According to an NBC News Decision Desk poll published earlier this month, 82 percent of Americans back the idea of a nonpartisan commission producing maps. Only 18 percent of voters prefer the current method employed by most states, of allowing the political party in power to draw maps.

That sentiment crossed party lines — it was backed by 92 percent of Democratic voters, 79 percent of independents, and 76 percent of Republican-leaning voters, the survey found.

A Common Cause poll published this month also suggested strong opposition to Republicans’ current mid-census redistricting scheme.

According to that poll, 76 percent of Democratic-leaning voters said they opposed mid-census redistricting, with 72 percent of independents in agreement. And while Republicans were more likely to approve of redistricting in between census counts, a majority, 57 percent, still said they were opposed.