With Republicans following Trump’s marching orders to redraw the Texas congressional map, other red states could fall in line next – while blue states say they’re looking at redrawing their own maps to counter the GOP.
North Carolina, RNC team up to restrict student voting
Democrats renew fight against Wisconsin gerrymandering
Louisiana officials ask to put redistricting lawsuit on hold
TEXAS
Texas GOP rushing through redistricting scheme
Republicans are giving Texans their brief chance to speak up this week about a newly-drawn congressional map designed to eliminate Democratic seats in major cities like Houston and Dallas. But in an unsurprising twist, they haven’t actually released the map yet.
The goal is to draw and approve a new map within 30 days that meets President Donald Trump’s demand to produce five more GOP seats, pulling off a shortcut version of democracy that gives Texans far less opportunity to give input than they would have during a normal redistricting process.
Democrats across the country have a stake in what’s happening in Texas, because the state’s redistricting scheme is meant to rig the 2026 midterms and keep Republicans in power in the U.S. House. And we’re seeing leaders in blue states react swiftly. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned “two can play that game,” saying he’s looking into whether his state, whose 52 House seats are by far the most of any state, can do its own mid-decade redistricting (tldr version: It’s complicated). And Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) signaled the Great Lakes State could redraw maps, too. In Maryland, those threats have gone one step further, with legislative leaders introducing a measure that would trigger a new redistricting effort if Texas goes through with its plan.
Texas isn’t the only red state taking a look at shoring up the national GOP’s control of the federal government. Ohio is set to redistrict its congressional map this year. And the White House is reportedly prodding Missouri Republicans to follow in Texas’ footsteps by drawing a new map to squeeze out one more GOP seat.
The existing Texas map is already an extreme partisan gerrymander that lets Republicans control 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats, a percentage that well exceeds their actual vote-share in the state.
That’s why Democrats see a possible silver lining in the scheme – the redistricting effort could backfire in Texas, making incumbent Republicans much more vulnerable to competitive challengers.
The news cycle moves fast, but the fight for fair elections is ongoing. Get the reporting that connects the dots — plus, help us deliver more exclusive stories, legal analysis and live events. Join today for $120/year.
North Carolina, RNC team up to restrict student voting
The 2026 midterms may seem far away, but Republicans are very busy laying the groundwork now in North Carolina.
This week, state election officials banned a digital form of in-person voter ID for students and employees of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, reversing the board’s previous decision last year.
The flip makes sense if you’ve been following Democracy Docket’s coverage of North Carolina this summer. Republicans took control of the North Carolina State Board of Elections in May, installing a hyper-partisan GOP majority and replacing the panel’s executive director, a respected election administrator, with a Republican operative.
Since then, we’ve seen the board implement the GOP agenda again and again. It quickly caved to a lawsuit brought by the Trump DOJ, launching a plan that could force thousands of voters to cast a provisional ballot. And the new executive director helped write a sweeping new anti-voting bill that, among other steps, bars election officials from encouraging or promoting voter turnout.
Now, rather than defend its policy allowing UNC voters to use digital photo ID at the polls, the board’s new leadership has reached a settlement with the Republican National Committee (RNC), who had brought their own lawsuit, to make it harder to vote. Read more about the agreement here.
WISCONSIN
Democrats’ new challenges to Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering
Wisconsinites have filed two lawsuits this month challenging the state’s congressional map, which currently delivers six out of eight congressional seats to Republicans, even though statewide voters have a near-even partisan split.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined late last month to take a case brought by a group of voters who argued the map is a partisan gerrymander and asked the court to order a new map for the 2026 election.
The court didn’t explain its decision to decline to take the case. But the new lawsuits are trying out different paths. Both are filing in state trial court, rather than directly asking the state Supreme Court.
State officials ask to put redistricting lawsuit on hold
In the ongoing battle over Louisiana’s 2021 state legislative district maps, state officials filed a motion this week asking to pause remedial proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court delivers its ruling on the state’s congressional map – a decision the high court has postponed until next term.
We couldn’t help but notice Louisiana officials mentioned Democracy Docket in their filing, citing our podcast episode about the Supreme Court’s decision to rehear the Callais case.
In the filing, the state argued it makes sense to pause proceedings until after the Callais ruling, which could change how the courts interpret Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
“In fact,” it went on, “some Court-watchers believe that the Supreme Court may deem Section 2 unconstitutional altogether, which would moot this Section 2 case.” (That’s us. The Court-watchers. And, to be clear, we weren’t predicting how the court would rule — just laying out the possibilities.)
SCOTUS May Let the GOP Gerrymander Black Southerners Out of Congress
Pulling together a lot of our concerns this week – Texas redistricting, the North Carolina GOP, the future of the Voting Rights Act – Democracy Docket contributor Billy Corriher drives home the bottom line: Minority voters are the ones paying the highest price in these challenges to democracy.
Corriher warns the U.S. Supreme Court could be gearing up for a major ruling on protections against racial bias in the redistricting process.
“And if recent Supreme Court decisions are any hint, our nation’s highest court won’t be stepping in to protect voters of color,” Corriher writes. Read more here.
NEW VIDEO
Does MAGA Think They’ve Gone Too Far? | ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero
As the Trump administration attacks our democracy, ACLU lawyers are on the ground fighting for our rights and freedoms. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero sits down with Marc to discuss the recent Supreme Court decisions, the importance of bringing hard cases, and the ACLU’s vital impact. Watch it on YouTube here.
What We’re Doing
Democracy Docket graphic designer Madison Coviello has added the latest book recommendation to our list: “Honeybee Democracy” written by animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley. Seeley argues we can learn a lot from bees and the way they make decisions as a group, guided by millions of years of evolution. Frankly, we’re open to all options at this point, and aren’t totally opposed to replacing some Supreme Court justices with bees.
This is one of our free weekly newsletters. If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to our newsletters here.
.png?height=50&upscale=true&name=Bluesky_Logo-grey%20(2).png){kind=logo}
