mid-decade redistricting

Texas Enacts the 1st Mid-Decade Congressional Map Designed to Increase Republican Representation in Congress

By EditorAug 30, 2025

On August 22, the legislature adopted HB 4 in a second special session initially convened on July 21. Governor Greg Abbott signed the mid-decade congressional map on the 29th after an earlier quorum fight stalled action. The House passed the map on August 20 by a vote of 88-52, and the Senate followed on August 23 with an 18-11 vote. The enacted plan is posted by the Texas Legislative Council as "PlanC2333", with statewide PDFs and data available. Find us on:

Texasmid-decade redistricting, Texas, texas redistricting

Missouri, New York, and Louisiana Consider Taking Early Steps Toward Possible Mid-Cycle Map Redraws

By EditorAug 22, 2025

All three states are laying procedural groundwork but face distinct hurdles: executive hesitation and intra-party risk in Missouri, constitutional lead times in New York, and judicial uncertainty in Louisiana. Missouri: Gov. Mike Kehoe is “assessing options” for a special session after former President Donald Trump urged a 7-1 GOP map. No draft lines have been released, but Republican leaders say any plan would likely split Kansas City’s 5th District to unseat Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. New York: Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie confirms leaders are “having discussions” after Gov. Kathy Hochul floated a Texas-style response, yet notes any mid-decade map would require…

Strategy and Politicslouisiana, mid-decade redistricting, Missouri, new york, policyindepth

California High Court Rejects GOP Bid to Halt Mid-Decade Redistricting Measure

By EditorAug 20, 2025

The California Supreme Court has dismissed a Republican petition that sought to halt Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to place a mid-decade congressional redraw on the November ballot, saying that "petitioners [GOP lawmakers] have failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under California Constitution article IV, section 8." The unsigned order, issued Aug. 20, leaves in place Democrats’ “gut-and-amend” legislation that would temporarily suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission and let voters decide whether to adopt new maps projected to add up to five Democratic seats, an answer to Texas Republicans’ July remap. The…

California, Strategy and PoliticsCalifornia, lawindepth, mid-decade redistricting, STATENEWS

Mid-Decade Redistricting: Where Else Could It Happen?

By EditorAug 11, 2025

Gov. Greg Abbott put mid-decade redistricting on the agenda after Trump suggested a redraw and after a Trump-aligned DOJ letter questioned the legality of four existing districts. Texas’s special session, which convened on July 21 in part to redraw the congressional map, set off a chain reaction among states looking to counter what some say is an "unusual move," although not unprecedented. On July 30, House Republicans released a draft map that could flip the state’s delegation from 25-13 to roughly 30-8 in the GOP’s favor. Texas Democrats have fled the state to deny their Republican counterparts a quorum, and…

RedistrictingCalifornia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Latest, Maryland, mid-decade redistricting, Missouri, New Jersey, new york, policyindepth, Texas, texas redistricting

A Brief History of Mid-Decade Redistricting in Texas

By EditorAug 06, 2025

A Brief History of Mid-Decade Redistricting in Texas Texas’s current mid-decade congressional redistricting effort has historical precedent. In 2003, Texas legislators undertook a similar mid-cycle redistricting that reshaped the state’s political landscape. Republicans, who had won control of both legislative chambers in the 2002 elections, launched an effort to replace the court-drawn congressional map from 2001. The legislature’s 2003 map significantly shifted the partisan composition of the Texas delegation, ultimately leading to a net gain of several Republican seats in Congress. The 2003 process drew national attention when Democratic legislators dramatically fled the state in protest, attempting to deny the…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Texasmid-decade redistricting, policyindepth, Texas, texas redistricting

Texas Redistricting Update: July 2025

By EditorJul 29, 2025

Governor Greg Abbott convened a 30-day special legislative session on July 21, instructing lawmakers to redraw the state’s 38 U.S. House districts. The call follows a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stating that four districts anchored in Houston and Fort Worth were "coalition districts," and may have been drawn “along strict racial lines,” (a.k.a racial gerrymanders), potentially violating the 14th Amendment. Lawmakers now have until roughly mid-August to craft new boundaries that satisfy equal-population and federal law requirements. Ongoing litigation over the 2021 mapsWhile legislators work on new boundaries, a three-judge federal panel in El Paso is…

Enacting a Redistricting Map, Redistricting Litigation, Texasmid-decade redistricting, racial gerrymandering, Texas, texas redistricting, Voting Rights Act

A Maryland Democrat Proposes Countering Out-of-Cycle Partisan Redistricting

By EditorJul 24, 2025

Maryland House of Delegates Majority Leader, Del. David Moon, a Montgomery County Democrat, is drafting legislation designed to counter partisan congressional redistricting efforts in other states. Moon's proposal would mandate that if any other state deviates from the norm of redrawing congressional districts only once every 10 years, Maryland would be required to do the same. This move comes as President Donald Trump is pushing states like Texas to redraw their maps outside the typical post-Census schedule, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott having called a special 30-day legislative session to consider redistricting, among other issues. Moon's "basic idea" is that…

Maryland, Partisan GerrymanderingMaryland, mid-decade redistricting

Can New York Redraw Its Congressional Districts?: NY Elections, Census and Redistricting Update (July 21, 2025)

By EditorJul 22, 2025

This New York redistricting update is excerpted from citylandnyc.org with permission from the New York Law School. Can New York Redraw Its Congressional Districts? As the Texas Legislature begins to meet this week to take up a partisan effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, California Governor Gavin Newsom is exploring how his state could redraw its map to counter the power play in the Lone Star State. Governor Newsom believes that one must play hardball when confronted by the type of demands requested by the White House. The Texas Legislature has few restrictions on what it can do when redistricting. The…

New Yorkmid-decade redistricting, new york