“The redrawing contest in the United States adds a new element of instability and high risk to next year’s midterm elections.” On May 23, the republican-controlled state of Texas crossed the final legislative hurdle, the Senate’s approval of a congressional redistricting bill pushed directly by President Donald Trump is expected to give Republicans an extra five House seats in next year’s midterm elections. Not only did the Texas Democratic senators try to stall the bill with lengthy debates, but the Texas House of Representatives even went on a mass exodus earlier this month. The democratic-controlled state of California also passed a package of bills on the 21st to allow the state to redraw the congressional district to hold a special vote, “In response to Texas attacks on democracy.”. According to Politico, the actions in Texas and California set the stage for a national redrawing battle that could upend the midterm elections and determine control of the House of Representatives. Voting rights and other legal considerations are being replaced by purely partisan interests.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick spoke to lawmakers Tuesday during a special session to pass the redrawing of congressional districts. Visual China
“There is no guarantee of success.”
After more than eight hours of heated debate, the Texas Senate voted 18-11 to approve a bill to redraw the state’s congressional district early Sunday. “This ‘Big and beautiful map’ has been passed by the Senate and is on its way to my office, which I will sign into law shortly,” Abbott, the state’s Republican governor, said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump said in a social media post Tuesday that, the new zoning plan “Will provide a major opportunity for the good people of Texas to elect five new ‘Make America great again’ Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections — a major victory for the ‘America First’ agenda.”.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump asked Abbott to call a special meeting so that the state could create more republican-leaning districts, the New York Times reported, that would help the Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections.
Dozens of Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives did not return to the legislature until Monday after a“Mass exodus” earlier this month prevented them from reaching the required quorum. (CNN) — the Democrats vowed to CNN a lawsuit against the new congressional district map just minutes after the house passed the Bill Tuesday night. According to Reuters, during the debate in the Texas Senate on the 22nd, some lawmakers reiterated the criticism raised by Democrats in the House of Representatives, the state’s“New district map” undermines the voting rights of Hispanics and African-americans, discriminates on the basis of race and violates federal law.
From the start, Texas Republicans have been outspoken in saying their actions were purely political, NBC said, in an effort to bolster their party’s power in Congress. However, CNN quoted Texas Republican Phil King as saying, “This is not a guarantee of success.”.
“You’ll burn everything.”
Two days before the Texas Senate passed a bill to redraw the state’s congressional districts, the democratic-controlled California legislature passed a package of bills, to ask the state’s voters to hold a special vote on November 4th on redrawing local congressional districts. The Associated Press said the bill was designed to help Democrats win five more House seats in next year’s mid-term elections and had been signed into law by California Governor Newson.
The stand-off between Republicans and Democrats in the US has triggered a broader redrawing war in many states. CNN said the White House is looking to Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Indiana and South Carolina, all of which have republican-controlled state governments, is seen as a potential opportunity for Republicans to add new districts to their advantage. Democratic governors in Illinois, Maryland and New York have also proposed redrawing“District maps” to increase the number of democratic-leaning districts.
The Associated Press said congressional redistricting usually takes place every 10 years and starts as soon as the census is over. But at the national level, there are no laws preventing a state from redrawing its boundaries midway through the 10-year cycle. The U.S. Supreme Court has also made it clear that the Constitution does not prohibit redistricting for partisan reasons, only for racial profiling.
Politico says the US is deviating from the norm of“Constituency redrawing every 10 years in conjunction with the census” as the battle over“Constituency maps” continues to rage, both parties are free to redraw the electoral map to change the balance of power. Bloomberg says attempts to keep the process of redistricting from being partisan have been stymied.
A recent reuters-ipsos poll found that zero per cent of Americans believe that redrawing congressional districts to maximize political gain is bad for democracy. California Republican Congressman James Gallagher said Donald Trump was wrong to push for new “Republican-leaning” districts and that the state’s “Fight fire with fire” approach was dangerous. “What happens when you fight fire with Fire?” Gallagher asked. “You burn everything.”
Reuters: Donald Trump wants to break the pattern
CBS says historical data show that the President’s party almost always loses seats in Congress in the mid-term elections. In Trump’s first term in 2018, the Democrats gained a majority of 41 seats in the House of Representatives; in 2022, the Republicans gained nine seats and regained control of the house. Reuters said Donald Trump wanted to break the pattern.
So far, Republicans hold only a narrow majority of 219 seats to 212 in the House of Representatives. Democrats see winning control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 as the key to counterbalancing Donald Trump’s authority in the second half of his term, according to the New York Times. Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers see control of the house as central to advancing its policy agenda and circumventing a series of democratic-led investigations. This month, Donald Trump directed the administration to launch a new census that would exclude people with no legal status in the United States, and promised to end the use of postal ballots and voting machines, both of which are believed to be linked to the midterm elections, or good for the Republican Party.
The use of redistricting for partisan gain is a long-standing phenomenon in American politics known as the Dean Kiely salamander. In 1812, Dean Kiely, the Governor of Massachusetts, signed a redistricting bill designed to give his party an edge. One district was described by the media as a salamander, hence the political term Dean Kiely salamander. According to Bloomberg, the “Dean Kiely salamander” allows politicians to choose their voters rather than their politicians.
The Dean Kiely salamander phenomenon is getting worse with the advent of modern data analysis tools, according to Reuters. The current redrawing contest has raised fears of a“New Jerry Salamander Era” in which Republicans and Democrats are jockeying for advantage, further dividing an already polarized nation.