Federal Judges Block Texas’s Redrawn Congressional Map from 2026 Midterms, Citing Racial Gerrymandering

A federal court on Tuesday enjoined Texas from using a newly redrawn U.S. House map for the 2026 midterm elections, ruling that challengers showed substantial evidence the plan racially gerrymanders Black and Hispanic voters. The 2-1 decision from a three-judge panel in El Paso grants an injunction while litigation proceeds, temporarily forcing Texas to revert to the 2021 congressional map unless a higher court intervenes.

The opinion, written by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, found that although politics played a role in the mid-decade redistricting, the Legislature adopted racial objectives that likely ran afoul of federal law. “Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” the court wrote.

“Without an injunction, the racial minorities the Plaintiff Groups represent will be forced to be represented in Congress based on likely unconstitutional racial classifications for at least two years.”

Governor Greg Abbott said Texas will appeal quickly to the U.S. Supreme Court and defended the map as an effort to reflect Texans’ conservative voting preferences. Supporters argue the new plan created an additional Hispanic-majority district and two new Black-majority districts. Opponents counter those majorities are so slim that higher white turnout could determine outcomes, undermining minority voters’ influence.

Legal and political context

Challengers — a coalition of civil rights groups representing Black and Hispanic voters — argued the redistricting reduced minority influence and violated the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. The court concluded those plaintiffs have a substantial chance of prevailing at trial.

The panel also flagged a July letter from the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, as a motivating factor for the Legislature’s mid-decade action. Dhillon advised Texas to dismantle four so-called “coalition” districts — one in the Dallas area and three in the Houston area — where minority groups together outnumber non-Hispanic white voters but no single group holds a majority. The judges said Dhillon’s legal view was incorrect, but that the Legislature nonetheless adopted racial objectives in response.

Under the Republican plan, the number of districts where minorities make up a majority of voting-age citizens would have fallen from 16 to 14. The map eliminated five of the state’s nine coalition districts and paired several Democratic incumbents into the same seats — five of the six incumbents affected are Black or Hispanic, challengers note.

Reactions

Advocates for the plaintiffs called the ruling a critical victory for voting rights. “Today’s decision is a critical victory for voting rights and a powerful rebuke of Texas’s brazen attempt to dilute the political power of Latino and Black voters,” said Abha Khanna, a partner representing minority plaintiffs.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson described the mid-decade redistricting as racially motivated. Republican defenders, including Pam Bondi, have characterized the challenge as partisan politics; Bondi said Texas’s map “was drawn the right way for the right reasons” and vowed to press the case at the Supreme Court.

The ruling arrives amid a broader national struggle over redistricting, with recent map changes in Missouri and North Carolina and a separate California ballot measure shifting congressional seat advantages in that state.

The injunction keeps the disputed map off the ballot for now while the courts sort the underlying legal claims. If the Supreme Court or an appeals court reverses the injunction, Texas could proceed with the 2025 map; otherwise, the 2021 map will be used for the 2026 midterms.