How the redistricting fight has scrambled dozens of midterm campaigns across the country

The national redistricting battle triggered by President Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the race for control of Congress next year — not only fundamentally shifting the House battlefield, but also creating a domino effect that’s shifting new candidates into new seats, ushering longtime members of Congress to the exit and exposing deep political rifts in state parties across the country

The national redistricting battle triggered by President Donald Trump has cast a long shadow over the race for control of Congress next year — not only fundamentally shifting the House battlefield, but also creating a domino effect that’s shifting new candidates into new seats, ushering longtime members of Congress to the exit and exposing deep political rifts in state parties across the country.

The fight is still playing out across courtrooms, back rooms and Trump’s social media, as Republicans and Democrats tinker with district lines. Developments like this week’s federal court ruling blocking the new Texas maps from going into effect — leaving the ultimate decision to the Supreme Court — also show how much remains to be determined in the redistricting fight.

The battle kicked off when Trump started pushing Texas Republicans to redraw district lines in the hopes of netting the party up to five seats in the state, and later began pressing leaders in other GOP-controlled states.

The new lines add more Republicans to the South Texas battleground districts represented by Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, redraw two districts in Houston and Dallas in a way that will likely force incumbent Democrats into primaries against each other, and redraw Austin to create one deep-blue seat and one additional Republican-leaning seat that stretches toward San Antonio.

But the fate of those plans hangs in the balance after a federal court blocked the map’s implementation and called for the 2026 elections to be run under the same lines as last year’s elections. The Supreme Court’s eventual decision whether to uphold that ruling will have a significant impact on a spate of races, starting with whether Austin-area Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett decides to retire.