Trump Pushes Mid-Decade Redistricting in Over Half a Dozen States

With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis set to convene a special legislative session on April 20, the most aggressive mid-decade redistricting push since the 1970s is entering a critical final window before the November 2026 midterms.

Planning began even before Trump's inauguration, spearheaded by advisor James Blair working alongside Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust. Blair presented the idea to Trump in April 2025, and Trump quickly agreed. The goal: shore up the GOP's narrow House majority by pressuring Republican-controlled legislatures to redraw maps before the midterm cycle locks in.

Four states, California, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas, have already enacted new congressional maps, while Virginia, Florida, Maryland, and Washington continue to navigate their own redistricting efforts.

Texas struck first and hardest. Trump had pushed Texas to redraw its map over the summer, hoping to secure five additional GOP seats to shore up the party's narrow majority in the U.S. House through the midterms. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, granted Texas' request to stay a lower court ruling blocking the map, meaning Texas' new districts will be used for the 2026 midterms. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that it was "indisputable" that Texas' motivation was "pure and simple" partisan advantage, invoking the court's 2019 ruling in Rucho v. Common Cause that federal courts cannot adjudicate partisan gerrymandering claims.

Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding one additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.

Florida is next on the clock, and the stakes are substantial. Florida's congressional delegation is currently made up of 20 Republicans and eight Democrats. DeSantis said "at least one or two" districts could be affected by a pending Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and expand Republican mapping options in minority-heavy South Florida. The session set for April 20 to 24 runs right up against the state's April 24 candidate filing deadline, though that could be moved, with Florida's primaries scheduled for August 18.

The Florida push faces serious structural obstacles. In 2010, Florida voters passed the Fair Districts Amendments, which ban partisan and racial gerrymandering and require districts to be contiguous, have equal populations, and respect existing political and geographic boundaries. A lawsuit filed with the Florida Supreme Court also challenges DeSantis's constitutional authority to call a special session for redistricting at all, arguing that power belongs solely to the legislature.

Intra-party friction compounds the legal uncertainty. House Speaker Daniel Perez has not spoken to either DeSantis or Senate President Ben Albritton about redistricting policies and has been repeatedly rebuffed by DeSantis.

The broader Republican effort has also stumbled elsewhere. In Indiana, Trump called on the state to redraw its congressional map and threatened primary campaigns against Republican legislators who did not support the effort. Ultimately, in December 2025, the legislature failed to pass legislation to redraw the state's congressional districts, with new maps passing the House on a 57-41 vote but being rejected by the Senate in a bipartisan 31-19 floor vote. Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins said in January 2026 he would not bring redistricting forward at all.

Cook Political Report projects the likeliest scenario is a wash, with neither party netting seats due to redistricting, largely because Democratic counters in California and a court-ordered map in Utah, where the state Supreme Court struck down existing lines as an unlawful partisan gerrymander, have offset Republican gains. Whether Florida tips that balance depends on what DeSantis's legislature produces in the next ten days and whether the courts let it stand in time for August ballots.