White House Pushes Texas to Redistrict, Hoping to Blunt Democratic Gains - NYT

[In It to Win It]

NYT - Gift Link

President Trump’s political team is encouraging Republican leaders in Texas to examine how House district lines in the state could be redrawn ahead of next year’s midterm elections to try to save the party’s endangered majority, according to people in Texas and Washington who are familiar with the effort.

The push from Washington has unnerved some Texas Republicans, who worry that reworking the boundaries of Texas House seats to turn Democratic districts red by adding reliably Republican voters from neighboring Republican districts could backfire in an election that is already expected to favor Democrats.

Rather than flip the Democratic districts, new lines could endanger incumbent Republicans.

But a person close to the president, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk publicly, nevertheless urged a “ruthless” approach and said Mr. Trump would welcome any chance to pick up seats in the midterms. The president would pay close attention to those in his party who help or hurt that effort, the person warned.

At an “emergency” meeting on Monday night in the Capitol, congressional Republicans from Texas professed little interest in redrawing their districts, according to a person briefed on the gathering who was not authorized to comment publicly. The 20-minute meeting, organized by Representative Michael McCaul, a senior member of the state delegation, focused on the White House push.

[sakabatou]

1. Just what we need: more gerrymandering

And coming from the fucking WH no less.

[0rganism]

8. They'll need to be more clever about how they do it, their margins are too thin to handle a strong Democratic shift

That was always the risk to the gerrymander-ers, you stretch out the big margins to pad closer races but if there's a big change in the electorate's composition and bias, suddenly all those thinned-out gerrymandered margins are a danger to you. Your previous gerrymander just backfired hard. If the GOP number-crunchers are nervous enough to engage with the power brokers and get F47 to play the omerta card on Texas Republicans, this could mean big things for future elections.

Assuming we get to have elections in the future, of course.

Now there might be some amazing topographical tricks they're about to pull off, or a few races they'll have to let go so they can move Republican votes to pad a different district. But if this is an issue at all, it means the previous districting strategies are no longer safe bets, and that means they perceive a major change in the upcoming electorate. So this is actually a distant ray of hope.

[Captain Zero]

2. Isn't redistricting only to happen after a CENSUS?

Is Trump breaking the laws about when redistricting is supposed to occur??

If it was already done after the 2020 census it appears this would be breaking the law.

The next census is 2030.

[yellowdogintexas]

7. See: Tarrant County Commissioner's Court which was just redistricted

mid term.
https://www.keranews.org/government/2025-06-03/tarrant-county-redistricting-vote

It has been a nightmare, the whole thing was rushed through in 3 months.
The vote to redraw the map happened on Tuesday
The court case came down on Wednesday

[JBTaurus83]

3. It is hard to imagine

That we will have a fair election. Bondi will be unleashed on our candidates as well.

[UTUSN]

4. K&R

[SSJVegeta]

5. If they arent careful, even a small D wave could flip the entire delegation Democratic

So yeah. I kinda hope they do it.

[yellowdogintexas]

6. Well I guess they think if Tiny Tim O'Hate and his 2 toadies can redistrict Tarrant County

why not try to redistrict the whole state

[Mountainguy]

9. There isn't enough meat on the bone

in TX to do anything. It's already gerrymandered, like every other red state, out the ass.

I think the political environment in 2026 is going to be devastating for republicans. I think it'll be enough that Senate control will be up for grabs.

You're going to see more and more republican members announcing that they are retiring or otherwise not seeking reelection in 26. You're going to see the Republicans with the best prospects opting to sit this one out (see Brian Kemp) and instead run in a better cycle.

This is going to make 2010 look small.