​​Trump Team Pushing Texas to Redistrict to Stem Midterm Losses

President Donald Trump’s team of advisors is reportedly urging Texas Republican leaders to consider redrawing the state’s congressional districts to prevent the party from losing its majority in the U.S. House, the New York Times reported.

But many top Texas Republicans are worried that pushing reliably red voters into blue districts could overextend the party, making it easier for Democrats to flip seats in a midterm election that already is expected to favor the minority party.

Republicans currently control 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats, just under two-thirds. Redistricting proponents reportedly believe that the GOP could stand to flip as many as five extra seats with new lines, pushing that majority up to more than three-quarters of the state’s U.S. House delegation.

But that necessarily would strip incumbent Republicans of some of their electoral padding.

“The only way you make the state more competitive congressionally is you do it at their expense,” State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, told the Times, describing congressional Republicans. “I think the Republicans have already maximized their map, given the demographic changes in the state.”

Congressional districts traditionally are revised every decade to reflect the latest U.S. Census data. Redrawing them between those dates is rare, and nearly always contentious. 

The last time that occurred was in 2003, when Republican Rep. Tom DeLay pushed to redistrict his home state of Texas, an ultimately successful gambit that nonetheless came as the state already was shifting from Democratic to Republican control.

Mid-decade redistricting would require action at both a federal and a state level. It’s unclear how much interest Republicans in both echelons have in the maneuver.   

During an “emergency” meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, few Republicans from Texas’s congressional delegation showed little appetite for the ugly and drawn-out fight that a mid-decade redistricting would almost certainly precipitate, according to an anonymous source. But U.S. House Republicans are continuing those conversations.

And the top Republicans in Texas itself — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — all have discussed the possibility of redistricting in recent weeks, according to the Times reporting.

The Texas Legislature would need to certify a revised congressional map. With the Legislature adjourned until 2027, Abbott would need to call a special session to bring lawmakers back to vote on the changes.

If the GOP goes forward with the plan, Abbott likely would call the special session next month, Houston Democratic Rep. Ron Reynolds told the Times.

Trump reportedly will be watching carefully who supports his redistricting push and who does not. That could hold some sway over lawmakers in the Texas House. 

In April, House Republicans approved a controversial private school voucher program after Trump called into the party caucus caucus meeting on the day of the vote to pledge his endorsement to all representatives who voted for its passage.

Texas has been embroiled in legal battles over its current redistricting plan that the Legislature adopted in 2021. An ongoing lawsuit is being heard in federal court over claims that the current map disenfranchises Hispanic and Black voters.