In Reply to: A 14% lead? Probably an outlier, but ... posted by mh on November 20, 2025 at 16:25:25
President Donald Trump’s plan to shore up Republicans’ House majority in the 2026 midterm elections by redrawing congressional maps is backfiring, at least for now.
When Trump pressured Republicans in Texas and other states to carve up their districts, his party appeared to have the upper hand. They controlled the redistricting process in more states and therefore could net more seats.
But so far, Trump is losing. Democrats, who once thought they would come up short in a gerrymandering war, are on track to net an estimated five seats. And while that could shift, they may still end up with an advantage by the time state legislators, voters and courts finish weighing in.
The latest and biggest blow to Republicans came Tuesday, when a federal court wiped out a new map in Texas that could have given the GOP as many as five more House seats. That followed other setbacks in Utah, where another court ruled against Republicans, and Indiana, Kansas and New Hampshire, where Republican lawmakers so far have rebuffed pressure from the administration to redraw their maps. The string of losses is beginning to create a backlash from Trump’s allies, who want the party to focus on campaigning instead of trying to engineer new districts.