By Joseph Ax
June 11 (Reuters) - Ten states have new congressional maps in place for November's midterm elections, after President Donald Trump triggered an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting war last year by pushing Texas Republicans to install a new, more favorable map.
Republicans have increased their edge in races for a total of 16 seats, while Democrats have an advantage in six newly redrawn districts. But many political analysts still favor Democrats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives
this fall, given Republicans' narrow majority and Trump's poor approval ratings.
Democrats must flip only three Republican-held seats from 2024 for a House majority. Here is how the conflict unfolded across the country:
REPUBLICAN GAINS
TENNESSEE - ONE SEAT
Tennessee Republican lawmakers on May 7 approved a new congressional map dismantling a majority-Black district centered in Memphis, becoming the first state to take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court's April decision that hollowed out the Voting Rights Act's longstanding protections for such districts.
The district's current representative, Democrat Steve Cohen, announced he would not seek reelection following the redistricting, all but guaranteeing Republicans will win a clean sweep of all nine seats in November.
ALABAMA - ONE SEAT
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 2 allowed Alabama Republicans to install a map that has only one district that is majority or near-majority Black, rather than the current two. The court's order overruled a panel of three federal judges who had found the map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters.
Democrats hold the two districts with significant Black populations, while Republicans control the other five seats. The new map is likely to result in six Republican seats.
SOUTH CAROLINA - EFFORT FAILED
The state Senate on May 26 rejected a new map that would have taken apart the district represented by longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn. Despite pressure from the White House, several Republicans broke ranks and joined Democrats in foiling the proposal, which had easily passed the state House of Representatives.
Republicans currently control the state's other six U.S. House districts.
TEXAS - UP TO FIVE SEATS
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in early December for a new Republican-backed map that targets five Democratic-held seats. The court's decision overturned a lower court ruling that had concluded the map likely discriminated against minority voters.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the map into law in August. Weeks earlier, more than 50 Democratic lawmakers fled the state, temporarily preventing a vote, but ultimately returned. Republicans already control 25 of Texas' 38 seats under a Republican-drawn map from 2021.
FLORIDA - UP TO FOUR SEATS
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis drew a new map aimed at flipping four Democratic-held seats and called a special legislative session in late April, where the Republican majority passed it into law.
Democrats challenged the map in court, citing a state constitutional provision that expressly bars the legislature from drawing districts purely for partisan gain. But the state Supreme Court on June 10 declined to block the map ahead of November, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction to do so until the lawsuit makes its way through a lower appeals court.
Republicans already control 20 of the state's 28 seats, after DeSantis and the legislature passed a new map in 2022 that flipped four Democratic seats.
MISSOURI - ONE SEAT
Republican Governor Mike Kehoe signed a new map into law in September that dismantled a Democratic-held seat based in Kansas City, giving his party the advantage in seven of the state's eight congressional seats.
OHIO - UP TO TWO SEATS
A quirk in state law required a new map for 2026 because the previous one was approved with no Democratic votes. The state's redistricting commission, which includes five Republicans and two Democrats, unanimously approved a compromise map in October that boosted Republican chances of flipping two Democratic-held seats but did not go as far as Democrats had feared. Republicans hold 10 of the state's 15 seats.
NORTH CAROLINA - ONE SEAT
The state legislature's Republican majority approved a new map in October designed to flip a Democratic seat, which would give Republicans control of 11 of the state's 14 U.S. House seats despite its status as a divided swing state. Under state law, Democratic Governor Josh Stein had no say in the process.
LOUISIANA - ONE SEAT
The Republican-controlled state legislature on May 29 approved a new map that eliminates one of two districts with significant Black populations, both held by Democrats. Republicans already hold the state's other four districts and will likely win five in November under the new lines.
Republican Governor Jeff Landry postponed the state's May 16 primary election for the U.S. House after the U.S. Supreme Court found Louisiana's map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
INDIANA - EFFORT FAILED
Indiana's Republican-controlled Senate rejected a new map aimed at flipping the state's only two Democratic House seats, a rare rebuke to Trump from members of his own party. Republicans control seven of the state's nine U.S. House seats.
KANSAS - EFFORT FAILED
Kansas Republicans abandoned a Trump-backed effort to redraw the state's congressional map after the state House speaker, Republican Dan Hawkins, said in January there was not enough support in his chamber to overcome a veto threat from Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. Republicans already hold three of the state's four U.S. House seats.
DEMOCRATIC GAINS
CALIFORNIA - UP TO FIVE SEATS
Voters overwhelmingly approved a new map backed by Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers designed to flip as many as five Republican-held seats in direct response to Texas. Democrats currently hold 43 of the state's 52 districts.
VIRGINIA - EFFORT BLOCKED BY COURT
Virginia voters on April 21 approved a new Democratic-drawn congressional map in a special election that could have flipped four Republican U.S. House seats. But the state Supreme Court on May 8 threw out the results, ruling that Democratic lawmakers did not follow proper procedures when they passed the proposed referendum and put it on the ballot.
UTAH - ONE SEAT
A state judge threw out a Republican-drawn map as illegally partisan and implemented an alternative that is likely to flip one of the state's four Republican-held seats to Democrats.
MARYLAND - EFFORT FAILED
Democrats in the state House advanced a new map in February that targeted the state's only Republican member of Congress, a move championed by Democratic Governor Wes Moore and national Democratic leaders. Democrats hold the state's other seven House districts.
But the state Senate president, Democrat Bill Ferguson, opposed the bill, though he has suggested he might be willing to revisit the issue ahead of 2028.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan: Editing by Paul Thomasch, Rosalba O'Brien, Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)
