Trump’s Battle of Texas is aimed at giving GOPs benefits in 2026. The Democrats have other plans.
Obama calls Newsom’s rezoning plan a “responsible approach.”
Former President Barack Obama has approved the rezoning plan for the government of Gavin Newsom, which calls it a “responsible approach” as Texan Republicans push the new map.
The partisan battle in Texas, which has been in power in Washington in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s second term, has spread to drawings of national debate among top politicians as voters support for another split election in 2026.
The lonely Star State GOP lawmaker is ready to send Republican Greg Abbott a new map of Congress on August 21, and Trump and his allies hope to give him strategic advantages in holding a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, the battle in Austin spread across state borders, creating significant uncertainty about who will be in a position to govern after the second half of the Trump administration and the next race in the White House.
“Game On” New York Governor Kathy Hokul wrote August 20 in a social media post. She is one of several Democrat leaders who are considering their own steps to redraw the borders of the state’s Congressional districts, like Texas Republicans.
There are five takeaways about the rapidly spreading constituency war.
Republicans have the advantage if the rezoning war expands.
States usually redo the voter’s legislative boundaries every decade, especially in two years following the new census. But Trump is encouraging rezoning to occur ahead of the 2026 US House election.
His motivation? White House parties tend to lose seats in the US home during congressional elections that occur during presidential elections. Recent examples include the political cycles of 1994, 2010, 2018 and 2022. Trump and the GOP hope to break that trend and increase the majority of the 219-212 US homes through states with Republican Congresses that can draw a map of Congress.
In contrast, many democracies have passed laws and constitutional amendments that create independent committees to extract parliamentary district maps rather than politicians. That’s part of why states like Missouri and Indiana discussed districts about Republican advantage, but the Democratic base in Washington ruled out that entirely.
Additionally, Ohio had to redraw its own congressional maps under a constitutionally mandatory process that takes place regardless of today’s political situation, and Florida has created a special committee to redraw its congressional maps.
To sum it up, that means there are three high-rise states that actively pursue Republican seats, and so far California is the only major state that is likely to be rezoned for Democrats than in 2026.
The legal battle for the new Texas map is brewing
What’s going on in Texas this week isn’t the final say on whether the map is permanent or not. That’s because the court decides, but such battles can take years to pass through the system.
Both Democrats and Republicans previewed their legal arguments during the Aug. 20 House debate in the Texas Legislature.
Democrats accused GOP colleagues of “packing” Hispanic voters in several districts and “cracking” or “diluting” their representatives. These are all important terms that refer to the practices your opponent has used when trying to tackle past maps. They also asked Republicans if they mapped the map based on the Hispanic ethnicity of voters, as race-based gerrymandering is still illegal.
Todd Hunter, a Texas Rep., author of the Republican author of the bill to change the map, explained that outside law firms drew maps rather than members of Congress or their internal staff. He said he asked the company to redraw the map to improve his party’s “political performance” using the term he said he was backed up by a recently decided federal court case.
Hunter repeatedly used the term during Democrat questioning time.
Americans don’t like gerrymandering yet
Americans have historically not liked it when politicians map favorably, but when it benefits the parties they agree with, they may support practices.
In a national Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from August 13th to 18th, a small minority of respondents believe the ongoing constituency change plan is “bad for democracy,” and Democrats are more likely to think of it than Republicans. A vote by market research firm Yougov, which ran from August 1 to 4, found that when the state deliberately mapped out to support one party, three-quarters of adults were considered “a big issue” and another five saw it as a “minor issue.” These proportions are also high among Democrats and low among Republicans.
But in California, where Democrats hope voters will decide whether to redraw their maps in the November 4 special election, the majority of voters support the initiative. According to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s vote, the proposal has support from 57% of California voters, as reported by Axios, which includes overwhelming support from Democrats and overwhelming opposition from Republicans.
National Voter Politics Running until August 20 – UC Berkeley Citlin Center polls found that about a third of respondents say California Democrats should “fight back” with their maps. It collapsed into almost two-thirds of Democrats, one-third of independents and around a tenth of Republicans.
New Democrats are in the spotlight
Americans see new faces emerging from Democrats as they make national headlines backlash with the often well-known Texas Republicans.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is widely seen as the forefront of his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, is one of them. His decision to go to Texas and toe, and his position to capitalize on his position in the only state with more Congressional seats than the Lone Star state, means a national spotlight on introductions to Americans around the country and his ideas.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pretzker found his name in 2024 when he hosted a Texas Democrat who fled for nearly two weeks, one of the names that came to mind for the vice president. However, the ongoing battle highlights what anti-Malimandering advocates have called an unfair map leaning towards the Democrats of Illinois. New York Governor Kathy Hochul says he wants to retaliate against Texas, but he’s been attracting attention.
Another new face is Fort Worth Texas Rep. Nicole Collier, who slept on the floor of the legislature. Texas Republican leaders are asking Democrats who broke the quorum earlier this month to leave the Chamber of Commerce and sign a permit slip that will leave the state police escorts to chase them about 24 hours a day.
“Today isn’t over,” Collier said after passing the bill on August 20th, “It’s the beginning of a new Democrat who doesn’t retreat. … And we’ll push and push and push until we take over this country.”
Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are all involved
Trump launched the fire when he called on Texas legislators to redraw the map and provide five more Republican-leaning Congressional districts. Now he’s going to go to the toes with the standard Democrat bearer caught up in the fight.
Former President Barack Obama posted to X that his attempt to redraw Texas districts was a “attack on democracy” and praised Texas Democrats. Now he supports Newsom’s plan to retaliate California’s Capitol map.
Kamala Harris’ former vice president is called Collier while she was in Congress.
Harris ruled out the run for California’s hometown governor in 2026, making him wonder if she would run for president in 2028.
Contributed by: Kathryn Palmer, USA Today
