Trump Admin’s Nationwide Gerrymandering Assault Faces Setbacks

President Trump’s pressure campaign to get red states across the country to redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms has hit a roadblock as various GOP-led redistricting efforts have either stalled or failed in recent days. 

As it stands now, GOP-led states, including Texas, North Carolina and Missouri, have all all engaged in mid-cycle redistricting to redraw congressional maps. But last Tuesday’s election results, and a series of setbacks for similar efforts in other red states, has placed a big question mark on the administration’s ongoing redistricting power grab.

For months, the Trump administration has been pressuring red states with Republican majorities in their state legislatures to redraw congressional district lines to benefit GOP candidates. It’s all part of an effort to ensure Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections. Typically, new congressional maps would be drawn after the Census in 20230, and not mid-cycle. Although the administration may still continue to push red states to redistrict, some state legislators, who now see the setbacks and challenges involved with doing aggressive gerrymandering mid-cycle, might not cave to Trump’s demands so quickly moving forward, election experts told TPM. 

“I don’t think it’ll have much impact on the White House’s pressure campaign, since they seem very worried about the midterms, but it does seem legislators of both parties are recognizing the weaknesses in these extreme gerrymanders in some states, and how they might be more vulnerable to wave elections,” David Becker, a former DOJ lawyer and the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told TPM. 

Most recently, Republicans’ plans in Utah backfired. Earlier this week, a Utah judge rejected a new congressional map that favors Republicans, noting in her ruling that state Republicans’ gerrymandered map “does not comply with Utah law.” In October, Utah Republicans approved the maps that Judge Dianna Gibson ultimately rejected on Monday. The Republican-drawn maps would’ve created two more competitive districts in the state that ultimately favored Republican candidates. 

Gibson said that the Republican maps did not meet the state requirements that were put in place in 2018 by Utah voters, who, at the time, approved a ballot measure that created nonpartisan redistricting rules for the state legislature to follow when redrawing lines. Republicans in the state are currently collecting signatures to try to put a measure on the ballot next year that would ask voters to repeal the 2018 measure.

In rejecting the GOP map, Gibson allowed another map — put forward by plaintiffs in the case, the League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government —  to move forward. It creates a safely-Democratic district around Salt Lake City.  

Additionally, Kansas GOP House Speaker Dan Hawkins announced that Republicans did not have the votes needed to convene a special session centered on redistricting this month. The announcement was made the evening of Nov. 4, an Election Night that brought major wins for Democrats across the nation.   

“Planning a Special Session is always going to be an uphill battle with multiple agendas, scheduling conflicts and many unseen factors at play,” Hawkins said last Tuesday evening. There is still a chance that redrawn maps — which are expected to target four-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) — will be considered when Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the state legislature, convene for their next regular annual session in January.  

Indiana Republicans’ redistricting effort is currently up in the air, too. Leading up to Republican Gov. After Mike Braun’s announcement of a special session on redistricting, Indiana Senate Republicans struggled with getting the votes needed to approve a new congressional map. Indiana’s special session was supposed to convene on November 3, per Braun’s announcement. Lawmakers, however, have decided to delay that session and convene instead in December. It still remains unclear whether Republicans have the votes needed to approve a new map targeting, potentially, the only two Democratic U.S. House seats in the state. 

These setbacks for the Trump administration’s gerrymandering pressure campaign come against the backdrop of a significant Democratic win in California last week, when voters approved a proposal to redraw the state’s congressional district lines as a way to offset the impact of Trump’s gerrymandering blitz. 

Proposition 50 was pushed forward by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval of five new congressional maps that are expected to flip seats held by Democrats there in the 2026 midterm elections. The approval of Proposition 50 will give California Democrats an advantage in some Republican-dominated and swing districts in the state.