A federal court has banned Texas from using its newly drawn congressional map in the 2026 midterm elections, saying that it amounts to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
The three-judge panel said the map, passed by Republicans in August, was not just about politics and ordered the state to revert to its previous district lines drawn in 2021.
Highlights
- A federal court blocked Texas' 2025 congressional map for racial gerrymandering, ordering a return to 2021 district lines for the 2026 elections.
- Judge Jeffrey Brown said the Texas map was racially motivated, diluting Black and Hispanic voting power.
- Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to appeal the ruling, calling the court's decision erroneous and defending the map as reflecting conservative voters.
Partisan gerrymandering is legal under federal law, but not if it is ruled to be racially motivated.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court
Image credits: Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map,” U.S. Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in the ruling.
“But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”
The challenge was brought by civil-rights groups that argued the map diluted the voting power of Black and Hispanic Texans.
They said the mid-decade redrawing shifted district boundaries in ways that reduced minority influence while strengthening Republican-held seats.
Texas officials have rejected the claims and argued that the redistricting was meant to reflect the state’s political landscape and said the court had overstepped.
The map had created five new Republican-leaning seats.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would “swiftly appeal to the United States Supreme Court.”
“The Legislature redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans' conservative voting preferences—and for no other reason,” Abbott said in a statement.
“Any claim that these maps are discriminatory is absurd and unsupported by the testimony offered during ten days of hearings.
“This ruling is clearly erroneous and undermines the authority the U.S. Constitution assigns to the Texas Legislature by imposing a different map by judicial edict.”
Image credits: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
The ban was welcomed by Democrats who initially fled the state in a bid to keep the House from reaching the quorum required to vote on the maps.
Gene Wu, chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement, “A federal court just stopped one of the most brazen attempts to steal our democracy that Texas has ever seen.
“Greg Abbott and his Republican cronies tried to silence Texans’ voices to placate Donald Trump, but now have delivered him absolutely nothing.
“The governor delayed relief for victims of the July 4th flooding in Kerr County, weaponized law enforcement against us, filed frivolous lawsuits to intimidate us, and still lost. Today, a federal court saw through Greg Abbott’s lies, and Texas families won.”
It comes after California passed Proposition 50 in response to the Texas maps, which is expected to create five Democratic-leaning seats ahead of 2026.
California is also facing legal action over its new 2026 map
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The measure temporarily overrides the independent redistricting commission to redraw the state’s congressional lines.
The changes to the maps will be temporary in the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles, after which a new U.S. census will be used to redraw the map for the next decade.
However, the new legislation is facing legal challenges from Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the California Republican Party.
A lawsuit argues that California’s new map was also drawn based on racial gerrymandering by using race as a factor to favor Hispanic voters.
“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”
In response, California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X, “These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court.”
Earlier this month, a judge in Utah rejected a new congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers on the basis that it “unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats.”
Judge Dianna Gibson then ultimately selected a map that created a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterms.