Texas Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate GOP-Favoring Congressional Map Ahead of 2026 Midterms

Texas officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to restore a congressional map approved by the Republican-led legislature that state backers say would increase Republican representation in the U.S. House and help former President Donald Trump's party hold control of Congress in the 2026 midterms.

Lower court ruling and legal issues

The petition asks the justices to pause an El Paso-based three-judge federal panel’s decision that blocked the August map after finding it likely amounted to an unlawful racial gerrymander in violation of the Constitution. The panel ordered that Texas use its prior 2021 congressional map for the 2026 elections while litigation continues.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who wrote the lower court opinion, said a Department of Justice letter urging Texas to consider racial demographics when redrawing four districts "ultimately spurred" the map. He characterized the DOJ’s analysis as resting on what he called a "legally incorrect assertion" about the racial composition of those districts under the previous map.

"Had the Trump administration sent Texas a letter urging the state to redraw its congressional map to improve the performance of Republican candidates, the plaintiff groups would then face a much greater burden to show that race—rather than partisanship—was the driving force behind the 2025 map. But nothing in the DOJ letter is couched in terms of partisan politics. The letter instead commands Texas to change four districts for one reason and one reason alone: the racial demographics of the voters who live there."

Political stakes

State Republicans say the new map could flip as many as five currently Democratic-held House seats to the GOP. Republicans now hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress, and control of either chamber would affect the legislative agenda and the potential for congressional investigations if the balance shifts after the 2026 elections.

National context

The Texas dispute is part of a nationwide redistricting battle. Both parties have used map changes to seek advantage: Democratic-controlled California recently approved a map projected to flip several Republican-held districts to Democrats, and that map has drawn legal challenges. Other states, including Virginia and Indiana, have seen contested efforts to redraw lines this cycle.

Legal precedent is mixed: the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that federal courts cannot resolve partisan-gerrymandering claims, but it has maintained that race-based gerrymanders are unlawful under the 14th and 15th Amendments. The high court, now with a 6-3 conservative majority, is also weighing other redistricting and voting-rights cases this term that could reshape the legal landscape.

What happens next

The Supreme Court will decide whether to step in and allow the August map to be used in 2026 while the underlying legal challenges proceed. If the justices reinstate the map, the outcome could reshape several competitive House districts in Texas and influence the national balance of power heading into the midterms.

Reporting: John Kruzel. Additional reporting: Andrew Chung. Editing: Will Dunham and Amy Stevens.