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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nA new kind of political battle is emerging between America\u2019s parties \u2014 one centered on the composition of Congress and congressional redistricting<\/a>. This process usually occurs every decade, after the US Census finishes its work and releases new demographic information that states use to reconfigure how the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are divided among the 50 states<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this summer, Texas Republicans are scrambling those norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican lawmakers are trying to pass a new proposal<\/a> for the GOP-controlled legislature to redraw their congressional maps<\/a> in the middle of the decade to give the national party an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. That vote in the legislature would have happened Monday \u2014 but state Democratic lawmakers have decided to leave the state. It\u2019s a procedural effort to deny a quorum in the state House and delay a vote on the new map \u2014 though it\u2019s unclear how long it can last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, the attempt to redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade is a blatant power play \u2014 jump-started by President Donald Trump\u2019s desire to offset potential losses<\/a> next year and win a bigger Republican majority in the House for the second half of his term. At the moment, it looks likely that Republicans might lose some ground in Congress, as has been the trend<\/a> for presidents\u2019 parties for the last 70 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This mid-decade redistricting effort is not the first time Texas Republicans have aggressively gerrymandered seats<\/a> to boost their party\u2019s representation in Congress, but it is<\/em> abnormal for redistricting to happen this early, or as a direct response to a president\u2019s wishes to gain an electoral advantage. And it doesn\u2019t seem like Texas will be the only Republican-controlled state to try this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sudden gamesmanship is forcing national and state-level Democrats to consider their own tit-for-tat, mid-decade redistricting efforts \u2014 and to confront a harsh reality. Many Democrats lack the political will to bend norms in response to these Republican efforts. And those who do will face steep legal and political obstacles, including from their own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, that isn\u2019t stopping some Democratic leaders from responding. Their leading voice is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has declared that he will redraw his state\u2019s maps<\/a> to boost Democrats if Texas Republicans move forward with their plan. Govs. Kathy Hochul<\/a> of New York, Phil Murphy<\/a> of New Jersey, and JB Pritzker of Illinois have also said they are considering<\/a> their own responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans have the upper hand on redistricting. In the majority of states across the country, state legislatures have the primary control and power to draw district lines. That includes the three states where Republicans have signaled they will try to redraw maps before the 2026 midterms \u2014 Texas, Ohio<\/a>, and Missouri<\/a> \u2014 all in which the GOP has unified control of the legislature and the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through redistricting these states alone, Republicans would be able to gain enough seats to secure a majority after the midterm elections. The current plan in Texas would gain them five seats<\/a>, while additional redraws could give Republicans anywhere from one to three more seats in Ohio<\/a>, and one seat in Missouri<\/a>. Republicans currently have a three-seat majority in the House<\/a>, as a result of resignations and deaths, which shrinks to a two-seat majority if all those vacancies are filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are still more Republican-run states that could be tapped. As Punchbowl News<\/a> reported last month, five Democratic-held seats could be threatened in Florida if Gov. Ron DeSantis agrees to a mid-decade redraw. And New Hampshire\u2019s governor, Kelly Ayotte, could still be convinced by the White House<\/a> to consider state Republicans\u2019 past plans<\/a> to create another Republican-friendly seat in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Republican-leaning states \u2014 like Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska \u2014 are limited from redrawing maps before 2026 by Democratic governors, more moderate Republican legislators and state courts, or the fact that their legislatures aren\u2019t in session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats in the three states that will likely create new GOP seats have few options to resist or block redraws. In Texas, Democrats have resorted to boycotting legislative sessions and preventing the legislature from voting<\/a> by leaving the state. On Sunday, more than 50 lawmakers fled to Illinois and New York to deny the two-thirds threshold required for the Texas House to meet. Republicans had been trying to force them to participate by delaying a vote on flood disaster relief and recovery funding until after their redistricting effort passes, but state Democrats eventually decided to go ahead with this delay. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has since issued an ultimatum<\/a>: He will try to have the Democrats who left the state removed from office through an untested legal process<\/a>, and fill their seats if they don\u2019t return by the start of the session Monday. These lawmakers would also be fined $500 for every day they miss a vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats in Ohio<\/a> and Missouri have no similar leverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That leaves out-of-state Democrats as the next line of defense. But they face obstacles there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats hoping to strike back have many fewer options. They\u2019re limited by the number of states they control, the way those states handle redistricting, and the political will of legislators who view this kind of redistricting as beyond the pale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats have unified control in 15 states<\/a>, out of which they could probably<\/a> only gain seats in about nine states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. But politicians trying to redraw districts in any of these states will face steep hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In California, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, independent or bipartisan commissions have the power to draw congressional maps<\/a>, not state legislatures. Those commissions were set up after years of bipartisan advocacy for fair representation and liberal activism for better government accountability and transparency. They are enshrined by state law or were set up by state ballot measures, and would require constitutional amendments, a statewide referendum, or court challenges to return redistricting power to the state legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That includes California \u2014 the state with the largest population \u2014 where the Texas Tribune is reporting<\/a> that Newsom plans to present the state legislature a new congressional map that flips five Republican-held seats to cancel out Texas\u2019s boost. After the Democratic-dominated legislature approves that plan, it would theoretically be put up as a statewide referendum for voter approval, though Newsom has<\/em> said that he believes the legislature can pass these changes by itself<\/a>. Still, Newsom hasn\u2019t publicly confirmed these plans, and he faces bipartisan opposition<\/a> to his idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other states essentially have prohibitions on mid-decade or early redistricting efforts, Dan Vicu\u00f1a, a redistricting expert at the government accountability organization Common Cause<\/a>, told me. The state constitutions of Washington<\/a> and New Jersey<\/a>, Vicu\u00f1a said, contain provisions that limit redistricting to the year immediately following the census and limit intervention before that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That leaves Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon as the Democratic states where early redistricting could likely be accomplished with fewer obstacles. Already, some Maryland Democrats<\/a> are signaling they would try to squeeze one more Democratic seat by redrawing their district lines. National Democrats have said they\u2019ll try to gain a seat in Minnesota<\/a>, though they\u2019ll have to wait until state Democrats regain their majority in the Senate, where a Democratic lawmaker resigned this week<\/a>, tying the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For as much bluster as Democrats are making about trying to retaliate, Republicans are actually taking the steps to do early redistricting. Congressional Democrats<\/a>, for now, are trying<\/a> to build support<\/a> among governors and state lawmakers to engage in this political back-and-forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to CNN, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his advisers are exploring legal ways to redraw maps in California<\/a>, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, and Washington, but those details have yet to be made public. Some Texas state Democrats, meanwhile, traveled to California and Illinois<\/a> last week to discuss GOP redistricting with the Democratic governors there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But to stay in the game, Democrats may have to abandon their own rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump-era GOP has shown its willingness to push the bounds of political norms and bend institutions. There are valid, long-term concerns about what this kind of ad-hoc redistricting will mean for elections and trust in government in the future \u2014 what Vicu\u00f1a described as a \u201crace to the bottom\u201d \u2014 but Democrats, at least in Congress, are accepting that playing fair, or by old norms, isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Update, August 4, 10:30 am ET<\/strong>: This article was originally published on July 23 and has been updated multiple times with news about California\u2019s potential plans<\/em> to redraw its congressional maps, Texas Democrats\u2019 quorum delay, and Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s response.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Republicans are pressing their advantage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Democrats are limited by their own advocacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Democrats may have no choice but to try redistricting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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