The courts have spoken. And the Left isn’t going to be happy about this.
Because the Supreme Court handed Trump a consequential ruling that left Democrats in hysterics.
Supreme Court Clears Path for Texas’s Aggressive New Map
The U.S. Supreme Court has all but ensured that Texas will keep its newly redrawn congressional districts in place for 2026, rebuking a lower court for misinterpreting evidence and refusing to extend the normal presumption of legislative good faith. In a terse unsigned order that halts lower-court interference for now, the justices flagged two clear errors. The district judge disregarded the legal requirement to assume lawmakers acted in good faith and failed to treat the challengers’ inability to offer any alternative map that satisfied Texas’s partisan goals as powerful evidence in the state’s favor.
The ruling is only a temporary stay while the case proceeds on the merits. Justice Elena Kagan dissented fiercely, warning that election deadlines will make the decision final in practice.
“This Court’s eagerness to playact a district court here has serious consequences,” Kagan said. “The majority calls its ‘evaluation’ of this case ‘preliminary.’ The results, though, will be anything but.
“This Court’s stay guarantees that Texas’s new map, with all its enhanced partisan advantage, will govern next year’s elections for the House of Representatives. And this Court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race,” Kagan continued. “And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution.”
Trump’s Mid-Decade Redistricting Blitz Gains Steam
The Texas decision marks the first big victory in President Trump’s unprecedented campaign to redraw congressional maps in red states and protect the GOP’s narrow House majority ahead of the 2026 midterms. Determined to avoid a repeat of the 2018 wipeout that flipped the House to Democrats during his first term, Trump began pushing mid-decade redistricting in June.
When reporters asked about adding GOP seats nationwide, the president replied, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”
Gov. Greg Abbott promptly called a special session. Democratic lawmakers fled the state for two weeks to break quorum, but the Republican legislature eventually passed the new map and Abbott signed it into law in August. Lawsuits followed immediately, yet Thursday’s Supreme Court order keeps the map intact.
Abbott celebrated bluntly. “We won! Texas is officially — and legally — more red,” he declared. “The U.S. Supreme Court restored the redistricting maps passed by Texas that were based on constitutional principles and Supreme Court precedent. The new congressional districts better align our representation in Washington, D.C., with the values of our state. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution.”
Trump himself has been unequivocal on social media. “We must keep the Majority at all costs,” he posted last month.
Democrats Launch Nationwide Counterattack
Instead of just complaining, Democrats have answered with their own aggressive redistricting push in blue and purple states.
DNC Chair Ken Martin called the ruling a moral and legal disgrace but promised payback. “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow Texas Republicans’ rigged, racially gerrymandered maps to go into effect is wrong — both morally and legally,” Martin said. “Once again, the Supreme Court gave Trump exactly what he wanted: a rigged map to help Republicans avoid accountability in the midterms for turning their backs on the American people. But it will backfire.
“Texas Democrats fought every step of the way against these unlawful, rigged congressional maps and sparked a national movement. Democrats are fighting back, responding in kind to even the playing field across the country. Republicans are about to be taught one valuable lesson: Don’t mess with Texas voters. The DNC stands committed to building power in Texas, no matter the maps in play, one election at a time.”
Texas House Democratic Leader Trey Martinez Fischer sounded equally combative. “This is what the end of the Voting Rights Act looks like: courts that won’t protect minority communities even when the evidence is staring them in the face,” he said. “I’m angry about this ruling. Every Texan who testified against these maps should be angry. Every community that fought for generations to build political power and watched Republicans try to gerrymander it away should be angry.
“But anger without action is just noise, and Democrats are taking action to fight back: California passed Prop 50 and added five Democratic seats to offset Texas. Democrats are organized and fighting back in Illinois, New York, Virginia, and more. A nationwide movement is being built that says if Republicans want to play this game, Democrats will play it better.”
The counteroffensive is already paying off. California voters approved Proposition 50 last month, suspending the state’s independent commission and handing map-drawing power to the Democratic legislature—an expected gain of five blue seats designed to cancel out Texas. Similar moves are advancing in Illinois, New York, Maryland, and Virginia.
Republicans, meanwhile, are redrawing maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, and Kansas. The only recent GOP setback came in Utah, where a state judge rejected the legislature’s map and imposed one that creates a new Democratic-leaning district.
With both sides now openly gerrymandering mid-decade, the 2026 House map is being rewritten state by state in real time.
