Texas’s Republican-led House of Representatives has approved a new congressional district map designed to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. A bill redrawing the maps to favor Republicans passed along party lines Wednesday, advancing the legislation to Texas’s Republican-controlled Senate, where its approval is all but guaranteed. This rare instance of mid-decade redistricting came at the behest of President Trump. Its passage was held up for weeks after more than 50 Democratic lawmakers fled Texas to deny Republicans quorum for a vote; they returned to Austin this week amid threats by Republican leaders to have them arrested or removed from office and replaced. Houston Representative Jon Rosenthal said he and fellow Democrats will sue to block the gerrymandered map once it’s signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

Rep. Jon Rosenthal: “It’s not just a power grab. It’s the fact that because they’re going to lose, they want to pick up more votes, but it’s the way they’re going about it, by dismantling Black and Brown districts. And let’s face it: This is a racist power grab that especially, especially goes after our African American representatives in Congress.”