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JD Vance called California’s congressional map ‘outrageous.’ It’s not exactly an outlier.

Poynter · Louis Jacobson · last updated

Texas Republicans, at President Donald Trump’s urging, are preparing to redraw the state’s congressional map in a way that could flip up to five seats to the GOP in 2026. Trump hopes to boost Republicans’ chances of maintaining a narrow House majority amid the headwinds of the midterm election.

The maneuver in Texas would be legal and not unprecedented for the state, which also undertook a Republican-driven mid-decade redistricting in 2003. But Democrats have called the move a partisan power grab and an affront to the traditional practice of drawing new congressional districts every 10 years, after a new Census.

Vice President JD Vance was among politicians debating whether Texas needs to redraw its lines.

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