Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, has signed a new congressional map into law, securing an additional five Republican-leaning U.S. House districts ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026.
Abbott’s signature on Friday marks the culmination of a partisan redistricting debate that has captivated the country’s attention and inspired an eye-for-an-eye effort by California Democrats.
‘Today, I signed the One Big Beautiful Map into law,’ Abbott said on X. ‘This map ensures fairer representation in Congress. Texas will be more RED in Congress.’
The Republican-controlled Texas House and Senate passed the new map through their respective chambers last week, following weeks of Lone Star State Democrats breaking quorum and fleeing the state to avoid a redistricting vote.
And Republicans in the state were not shy about the reason why they wanted to tweak the map.
Sen. Phil King, R-Texas, who carried the map in the Senate, contended that while the map created more competitive districts, he believed they would be won by Republicans during the 2026 midterm election cycle.
‘[House Bill 4], I believe, should elect more Republicans to the U.S. Congress, but I’m here to tell you, there are no guarantees,’ he said.
Texas Democrats aren’t shy about their plans to challenge the map in court, either.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder lauded state Democrats for their attempts to block the process and charged that Texas Republicans ‘have effectively surrendered Texas to Washington, D.C.’
‘This isn’t over — we’ll see these clowns in court,’ Scudder said. ‘We aren’t done fighting against these racially discriminatory maps, and fully expect the letter of the law to prevail over these sycophantic Republican politicians who think the rules don’t apply to them.’
Abbott pushed for the creation of a new map to adhere to President Donald Trump’s desire to not see a repeat of the 2018 election cycle, when Democrats handily regained the majority in the House and acted as a foil to the president’s legislative goals toward the end of his first term.
The Texas map seeks to maintain the Republican majority in the U.S. House next year. Republicans managed to pass Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ through Congress this year, fulfilling many of his 2024 campaign promises, including immigration and green energy reform and tax cuts. Democrats are already using the megabill as fodder for their 2026 campaigns, particularly on Medicaid cuts.
Repeating a similar legislative achievement for Trump would face even more hurdles if Democrats win control of the House.
But Abbott and the Texas GOP’s effort could be in vain, given that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats passed their own new map, which added five new Democratic-leaning seats in a bid to cancel out Trump’s demands.
However, the new California map is not yet official, and must be approved by voters in November to be enacted.
‘The People of California will be able to cast their vote for a Congressional map. Direct democracy that gives us a fighting chance to STOP Donald Trump’s election rigging,’ Newsom said on X.
While Republicans control a supermajority in deep-red Texas, Democrats were still needed to create a quorum in the House to actually move the process along.
Dozens of Texas Democrats fled the state to stall the process, creating a national media frenzy and generating support from Democratic donors, including groups linked to George Soros and Beto O’Rourke, to help pay for their fines, travel and lodging.
But Texas Republicans Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows sought nationwide civil arrest warrants for the Texas House Democrats who broke quorum, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, requested the FBI track them down and the DOJ launch an investigation into the political action committees funding their escape.
Democratic leaders announced early last week they would return for the second special session following California’s plan to redraw its maps to soften the blow from the Lone Star State, ending the blockade and allowing Republicans to charge ahead.
Texas House Democrats accused the GOP of crafting a map that was illegal and racially discriminatory, and they tried and failed on the House floor to add amendments to the bill that would have halted the process. Despite Democrats’ best efforts, Texas House Republicans shot down a dozen amendments to the bill and passed it last Wednesday evening.
‘Members, it breaks my heart to see how this illegal and rigged mid-decade redistricting scheme is dividing our state and our country,’ Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat, said. ‘This is Texas, it’s not Washington D.C. The impulses of outside politicians and their billionaire backers shouldn’t dictate what we do in this chamber, in this House.’
Rep. Todd Hunter, a Republican who wrote the bill for the new map, countered that four of the five new districts were ‘majority-minority Hispanic,’ noting that each of the new districts now trended Republican. Still, he had no qualms as to why Republicans were pursuing changes to the congressional maps.
‘The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward, [to] improve Republican political performance,’ he said.
The Democrats’ blockade ended last week, when Abbott called for a second special session after their demands for California to also begin a redistricting cycle were met in an effort to nullify the map Texas Republicans were creating.