A federal three-judge panel will begin considering on Wednesday whether Texas can use a redrawn redistricting map for the 2026 midterm elections. CBS News political editorial producer Hunter Woodall has more details.

Texas

A federal court is considering the legality of Texas' recently redrawn congressional map, which Democrats claim unfairly favors Republicans and violates the Voting Rights Act. The Republican-led changes would shift several Democratic-held seats to be more favorable to Republicans, prompting legal challenges from Democratic-aligned groups who seek to retain the previous map.

Texas Republicans maintain that the new map was drawn for partisan advantage rather than on the basis of race, a central point in their defense. The case has significant implications for the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives, particularly for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Similar redistricting efforts are underway in other states, with both major parties seeking to secure electoral advantages.

Texas redistricting battle heads to court

Today, the partisan fight over Texas redistricting heads to federal court. Democrats hope to block the newly drawn congressional map that favors Republicans. They say it violates the Voting Rights Act, which the GOP denies. A three-judge panel will determine whether the new map is constitutional. CBS News political reporter Hunter Woodall is following this for us from our Washington bureau and joins us now. Hunter, good morning to you. So what's the big picture here? What is at stake with this hearing? Well, good morning, Errol. What we're seeing in Texas in this case has massive implications for the 2026 midterms. As you mentioned, the redraw that Texas Republicans did here essentially takes five Democratic held congressional seats at the moment and makes them more favorable to Republicans. By making the shift, it drew a court challenge, and in this court challenge, opponents of the maps, obviously allied with Democrats who oppose the Republican-led changes, are hoping to keep the old map, the one that was in effect for the 2024 election, in place rather than the one that could be used in 2026 if Republicans passed and were signed into law. Now, right now, the U.S. House has a very narrowed majority in terms of the Republican control of the chamber. If this new map goes into effect, is used in the 2026 elections, this really could be difficult for Democrats and could help Republicans' chances of keeping control of the U.S. House. And how is the state responding to these accusations of racial gerrymandering going on here? Errol, it's really interesting. As I listened to the debate in recent weeks, as I read court filings in this case, it is clear Texas Republicans have been adamant that they drew this map for partisan purposes, that they drew this map to help Republicans have more representation in terms of what they're doing in Texas and then be elected to Congress in Washington. It's an interesting tactic to use there, saying, hey, we didn't use race to draw this map, we used a partisan preference of saying they wanted to send more Republicans to Washington. That's a major part of their defense and it's a major part of what they're saying as they try to keep this map in place. And this isn't the only redistricting effort happening in the U.S. Where do some of the other efforts stand? Well, we've obviously seen California Democrats answered what Texas is doing and they're trying to redraw five Republican districts to make them more favorable to Democrats in California. Now, that's gonna take a ballot measure this fall, in the November, off your elections to essentially see if that can take effect. Now, there are other states that are doing this and Republicans clearly have an advantage on being able to redistrict if they want to. But I will note, and it should be said very clearly, both Democrats and Republicans have drawn districts around the country that favor their respective parties. Now, Republicans do have more of an advantage right now in terms of the states that they can redistrict in. These are red states that have several Democratic districts or even just one Democratic district per se, but it does have massive implications, like I said, for the 2026 midterms. All right, Hunter, thank you very much.

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