Texas cannot use its new congressional map for the 2026 election and will instead need to stick with the lines passed in 2021, a three-judge panel ruled Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The decision is a major blow for Republicans, in Texas and nationally, who pushed through this unusual mid-decade redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump. They were hoping the new map would yield control of 30 of the state\u2019s 38 congressional districts \u2014 up from the 25 they currently hold \u2014 and help protect the narrow GOP majority in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public perception of this case is that it\u2019s about politics,\u201d U.S. Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, wrote in the ruling striking down the new lines. \u201cTo be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown ordered that the 2026 congressional election \u201cshall proceed under the map that the Texas Legislature enacted in 2021.\u201d The case will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but time is short: Candidates only have until Dec. 8 to file for the upcoming election.<\/p>\n
The map cleared the GOP-controlled Legislature in August and was quickly signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. Several advocacy groups sued over the new district lines, saying lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black and Hispanic Texans and drew racially gerrymandered maps. Over the course of a nine-day hearing in El Paso last month, they aimed to convince the judges that it was in voters\u2019 best interest to shelve the new map until a full trial could be held.<\/p>\n
\u201cA federal court just stopped one of the most brazen attempts to steal our democracy that Texas has ever seen,\u201d Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu, D-Houston, said in a statement. \u201cGreg Abbott and his Republican cronies tried to silence Texans\u2019 voices to placate Donald Trump, but now have delivered him absolutely nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear if the state still has a legal path to restoring the new map in time for 2026. Unlike most federal lawsuits, which are heard by a single district judge and then appealed to a circuit court, voting rights lawsuits are initially heard by two district judges and one circuit judge, and their ruling can only be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s decision came from a three-judge panel made up of Brown; U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, a Barack Obama appointee; and Judge Jerry Smith, who was appointed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by Ronald Reagan. The ruling comes 10 days into the monthlong period when candidates can sign up for the March primary.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the ruling has set off a cascade of political maneuvering among members of both parties who had been operating under the notion that the Republican map would stick. Democrats, rather than facing retirement or primaries against fellow incumbents, are now freed up to run in their current districts. The bevy of Republican candidates who had signed up to run in districts newly drawn to favor them will now have to hope for an intervention from the Supreme Court or face far less favorable election prospects.<\/p>\n
Austin Democrats Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett had engaged in a shadow primary over the summer over who would represent the remaining Austin Democratic seat, an amalgamation of their two current seats. Doggett ultimately announced he would retire if the maps were upheld, clearing the way for Casar.<\/p>\n
But after the court\u2019s ruling, Casar said<\/a> in a statement that he would run in his old district, Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District, provided the decision stands, clearing the way for Doggett to remain in Congress in the 37th Congressional District.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I\u2019m glad these judges have blocked them,\u201d Casar said. \u201cIf this decision stands, I look forward to running for reelection in my current district.\u201d<\/p>\n The map ruling would also resolve an emerging primary in Texas\u2019 18th Congressional District, where Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards are competing in a Jan. 31 runoff to finish out deceased Rep. Sylvester Turner\u2019s term. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, had filed to run in the newly drawn 18th Congressional District, setting up a clash with either Menefee or Edwards. But Green could now run in his current district, the 9th Congressional District, and avoid that scenario.<\/p>\n This is just the opening gambit in what promises to be a yearslong legal battle over Texas\u2019 congressional map. A lawsuit over the state\u2019s 2021 redistricting \u2014 including its state legislative and education board seats \u2014 went to trial earlier this summer and remains pending before the same three-judge panel. The judges have indicated they may want to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a major voting rights case <\/a>before issuing their full ruling on Texas\u2019 maps. <\/p>\n But for Trump, and many of his Republican supporters in Texas, the short-term goal of having this map for the 2026 election was as important as the long game. <\/p>\n