In mid-August, Texas passed legislation that redrew their congressional maps, potentially giving them 5 additional Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms.
In retaliation, California has passed a redistricting bill that has given voters the option in November on whether or not to allow these redrawn maps to be used in the 2026 midterms. If passed by voters, these maps could cancel out the five seat gain in Texas.
Currently, the Democrats have a three-seat deficit in the U.S. House of Representatives. Historically, the president’s political party loses some of its seats in the midterms following their inauguration. These efforts to redraw the maps in California and Texas have spurred other states to do the same or at least determine the feasibility of these efforts in non-census years, including Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Utah, and New York.
As these states begin to engage in mid-election redistricting, this will make a change in political power. Whichever political party takes over the house, will be able to redraw maps in favor of their party. However, courts have the ability to overturn any maps and order new ones.
What is redistricting?
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) redistricting is “the process of drawing the lines of districts from which public officials are elected. When it’s conducted fairly, it accurately reflects population changes and racial diversity and is used by legislators to equitably allocate representation in Congress and state legislatures.”
The census helps determine how the states redraw their congressional maps to reflect the population changes in each district. The data from the census provides a basis for the redistricting process.
During this process state legislatures look to the census every time districts are reconfigured, and new lines are drawn. They look to see where people are living and that the number of districts is equally the same as where the number of individuals are living. All of this data is pulled from the 2020 census since it only happens every 10 years.
The act of redistricting is lawful even if it doesn’t happen after a census. In most cases these are necessary changes as the population and racial diversity changes in the decennial Census. The denial census happens every ten years. This survey counts each resident of the country and where they reside. This survey comes from the constitution which mandates the complete number of residents to determine the House of Representatives among the states.
The house is made up of 435 representatives that are elected every two years. These legislators represent districts with boundaries that are set up by their state’s government. However, when politicians use this as a tool to manipulate the result of an election or as an attack on certain demographics, this would be unlawful and inequitable making it what people call gerrymandering.
What is Gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing electoral maps for the U.S. House of Representatives to make it more favorable for one party or another, whether that’s drawing districts based on race, voting patterns, or the ethnic makeup of an area, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In 2024 the case of Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a ruling made by the Supreme Court made it even more difficult for voting minority groups and people of color trying to protect their constitutional rights.
This case was a result of racial gerrymandering which moved voters to different districts based on their race. South Carolina engaged in this practice of discriminating against its voters and was a direct violation of the federal constitution. The case was challenging a map that moved 30,000 black voters into a lone majority district.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the map and decided that the South Carolina legislature did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition on racial gerrymandering. In doing so, “it not only deprived Black voters in South Carolina of a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of choice outside of a single district but also made it easier for future legislative bodies to draw maps that harm voters of color,” according to the League of Women Voters.
Redistricting in California
In California, the map must first be approved by voters before going into effect. The voting process is conducted by the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. There are fourteen members in this commission that have different geographical commissions and different ethnic backgrounds in the state. The commission is appointed and led by five democrats, five republicans, and four independents with no party affiliation.
In response to California’s response to redistricting, Newsom has started his own campaigns using various social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to encourage Californians to vote in this upcoming election taking place in November.
Do you have any questions about redistricting that we didn’t answer? Or have any other voting questions for the upcoming election? Reach out to us at [email protected].
