Redrawn Texas Map May Not Be Ready In Time for 2026
The battle over Texas’ redrawn congressional map has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where opponents of the revised boundaries urged the justices on Monday to leave in place a lower court ruling that orders the state to use its prior map for the 2026 elections. The challengers say there is more than enough time before the next election cycle to do so — despite the state’s objections.
According to Roll Call, the dispute centers on whether Texas can implement a recently enacted map that shifts five Democratic-held districts into contested territory. Conservatives argue the new configuration reflects population changes and reinforces electoral fairness, while Democrats are fighting to reverse it before the midterms — openly acknowledging that several seats are now at risk.
Texas has already appealed the 2–1 ruling from a federal district court panel that deemed the 2024 map an illegal racial gerrymander and ordered the state to revert to the 2021 boundaries drawn after the 2020 census. State officials say the timing of that ruling threatens chaos just weeks before candidate filing deadlines.
In an emergency request filed last week, Texas asked the Supreme Court to step in by next Monday, warning that the late ruling jeopardizes the December 8 filing deadline.
“The chaos caused by such an injunction is obvious: campaigning had already begun, candidates had already gathered signatures and filed applications to appear on the ballot under the 2025 map, and early voting for the March 3, 2026, primary was only 91 days away,” the petition said.
The challengers rejected those arguments in their Monday response, insisting that following the existing congressional map — the one used for the past four years — would avoid disruption and confusion.
“No one will be confused by using the map that has governed Texas’s congressional elections for the past four years,” the response said.
They also framed the new Texas map as “as stark a case of racial gerrymandering as one can imagine,” accusing the Legislature of allegedly reshaping districts to weaken minority voting power while simultaneously targeting five Democratic-held seats for partisan reasons.
The legal fight intensified after Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued an administrative stay on Friday, temporarily blocking the lower court’s ruling while the Supreme Court considers whether the new congressional map may be used in 2026. A preliminary ruling could come as early as later this week, Roll Call reported, given that the case is on direct appeal to the nation’s highest court.
The dispute goes beyond Texas. With the balance of the House of Representatives on the line, states controlled by both parties are aggressively redrawing political maps heading into the midterms — a reminder of how central redistricting has become to national power.
The 2–1 district court majority that struck down Texas’ map concluded that lawmakers intentionally altered districts with large minority populations and relied on racial considerations during redistricting — a charge the state strongly rejects.
On Monday, the Trump administration entered the showdown, filing a brief urging the Supreme Court to rule in Texas’ favor, arguing that challengers failed to prove discriminatory intent.
“The United States has a strong interest in protecting citizens from race discrimination in voting, and it has an equally strong interest in ensuring that federal courts do not erroneously interfere with federal elections and usurp the constitutional primacy of States in the drawing of congressional districts,” the brief said.
The administration also noted that the lower court “misused” a Justice Department advisory letter to Texas that recommended adjustments to comply with the Voting Rights Act, contending the court overstepped just before key election deadlines.
Texas lawmakers approved the revised map in August. Plaintiffs involved in an ongoing lawsuit over alleged Voting Rights Act violations in the original post-2020 map quickly expanded their case to include the updated boundaries, Roll Call noted.
Nationwide, the redistricting push continues to intensify. Since the Texas fight began, California, Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina, and Kansas have all approved or begun drafting new congressional maps — signaling that both parties know exactly how high the stakes are for 2026.