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Redistricting in Texas ahead of the 2026 elections

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Texas redrew its congressional district boundaries in August 2025. Click here to read more about the mid-decade redistricting effort in Texas and other states.
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Redistricting
State legislative and congressional redistricting after the 2020 census
General information
State-by-state redistricting procedures • Majority-minority districts • Gerrymandering
The 2020 cycle
United States census, 2020 • Congressional apportionment • Redistricting committees • Deadlines • 2022 House elections with multiple incumbents • New U.S.House districts created after apportionment • Congressional maps • State legislative maps • Lawsuits • Status of redistricting after the 2020 census
Redrawn maps
Redistricting before 2024 elections • Redistricting before 2026 elections
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BP-Initials-UPDATED.png Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures. This article covers redistricting activity in Texas after the 2024 elections and before the 2026 elections.


Texas' 38 United States representatives and 181 state legislators are all elected from political divisions called districts. District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. Federal law stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Congressional districts
Mid-decade redistricting in Texas ahead of the 2026 elections has concluded.

President Donald Trump (R) in July 2025 urged Texas Republicans to redraw the state's congressional district boundaries to help retain the Republican U.S. House majority in the 2026 U.S. House elections.[1] Ahead of the redistricting effort, Republicans represented 25 of Texas' 38 congressional districts. Democrats represented twelve, and the 18th District seat was vacant following the death of Sylvester Turner (D) in March 2025.

On August 20, 2025, the Texas House voted 88-52 along party lines to approve a bill proposing a new congressional map.[2] On August 23, 2025, the Texas Senate voted 18-11 along party lines to approve the new congressional district boundaries, sending it to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).[3] Abbott signed the new map into law on August 29, 2025.[4]

Click here for more information about the congressional maps enacted in Texas after the 2020 census.

Legislative districts
Litigation over state legislative redistricting in Texas after the 2020 census is ongoing.

In consolidated cases before the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, a group of Texas organizations and voters argued that the state's congressional and state legislative maps were unconstitutional and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Latino voting power. A trial began May 21, 2025.[5]

Click here for more information about the state legislative maps enacted in Texas after the 2020 census.

For a complete overview of redistricting in Texas after the 2020 census, click here.

Summary

See also: Redistricting in Texas after the 2020 census

This section lists major events in the post-2020 census redistricting cycle in reverse chronological order. Major events include the release of apportionment data, the release of census population data, the introduction of formal map proposals, the enactment of new maps, and noteworthy court challenges. Click the dates below for additional information.

Court challenges

See also: Redistricting lawsuits in the 2020 redistricting cycle

U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas on December 6, 2021, saying the state’s newly enacted congressional and legislative maps violate the Voting Rights Act by failing to account for the growth of Latino and Black populations. “The Legislature refused to recognize the state’s growing minority electorate,” the complaint said. “Although the Texas congressional delegation expanded from 36 to 38 seats, Texas designed the two new seats to have Anglo voting majorities.”

In a press conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said "The complaint we filed today alleges that Texas has violated Section Two by creating redistricting plans that deny or bridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language-minority group." Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said "our investigation determined that Texas' redistricting plans will dilute the increased minority voting strength that should have developed from these significant demographic shifts."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said the lawsuit was the "Biden Administration's latest ploy to control Texas voters" and he was “confident that our legislature's redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail."[12] Renae Eze, a spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott (R), said, “It’s no surprise that Democrats in Washington are attacking our state’s redistricting plans. We are confident that Texas’ redistricting plans will be upheld by the courts, and our office continues working with the Office of the Attorney General to ensure Texans are represented fairly.”[13]

The Department of Justice withdrew its claims against the state's maps on March 6, 2025, but litigation continued with other groups maintaining their challenges against the maps in consolidated cases. A trial was held in May 2025.[5]

For more information about redistricting lawsuits in Texas , click here.

Enacted maps

Enacted congressional district maps

See also: Congressional district maps implemented after the 2020 census

In August 2025, the Texas Legislature proposed a new congressional district map during special legislative sessions that prompted Democratic legislators to leave the state to prevent a quorum.[14][15] Click here to read more about the 2025 Democratic walkout during mid-decade redistricting in Texas.

On August 20, 2025, the Texas House approved House Bill 4 containing a new congressional map by an 88-52 vote along party lines.[16] On August 23, 2025, the Texas Senate approved the map by an 18-11 vote along party lines.[17] Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the new map into law on August 29, 2025.[4] The bill text stated the new district boundaries would take effect for the 2026 elections.[18]

Texas first enacted new congressional districts on October 25, 2021. The Senate released a proposed congressional map on September 27, 2021, and approved an amended version of the proposal on October 8, 2021.[19] On October 13, 2021, the House Redistricting Committee approved an amended version of the congressional map, and both chambers of the legislature approved a finalized version of the map on October 18, 2021. The Senate approved the proposal in an 18-13 vote, and the House approved the bill in an 84-59 vote.[20] Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the map into law on October 25, 2021.[21] This map took effect for Texas' 2022 congressional elections.

Enacted state legislative district maps

See also: State legislative district maps implemented after the 2020 census

Texas renewed its state legislative district boundaries in June 2023 for use in 2024 and until the 2030 census. These districts were the same as those enacted by the state in October 2021. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed HB 1000 — establishing state House district boundaries — on June 12, 2023, and he allowed SB 375 — establishing state Senate district boundaries — to become law without his signature on June 18, 2023.[22][23]

The Texas Tribune's James Barragan wrote in January 2023 that Senate Legislative Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Joan Huffman (R) said the state was re-doing the redistricting process "to ensure that Legislature had met its constitutional requirement to apportion districts in the first regular session after the publishing of the results of the federal census, which is done every 10 years. Because of the pandemic, census numbers were not released until after the end of the last regularly scheduled legislative session on May 31, 2021. Redistricted maps were passed in a subsequent special session that year."[24] Texas had originally enacted new state legislative districts on October 25, 2021.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Houston Chronicle, "Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority," July 15, 2025
  2. ↑ New York Times, "Texas House Approves Redistricting Maps, Just as Trump Wanted," August 20, 2025
  3. ↑ Reuters, "Texas Senate approves redistricting bill, sending it to governor to sign," August 25, 2025
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 X, "Greg Abbott on August 29, 2025," accessed August 29, 2025
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Democracy Docket, "Trump’s DOJ Withdraws Claims In Texas Redistricting Lawsuit," March 7, 2025
  6. ↑ Reuters, "Texas Senate approves redistricting bill, sending it to governor to sign," August 25, 2025
  7. ↑ New York Times, "Texas House Approves Redistricting Maps, Just as Trump Wanted," August 20, 2025
  8. ↑ ABC News, "Texas House redistricting committee advances bill with new congressional maps," August 18, 2025
  9. ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate panel again advances redrawn congressional map," August 17, 2025
  10. ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate approves new congressional lines as House Democrats remain out of state," August 12, 2025
  11. ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas House panel advances redrawn congressional map that would add more GOP seats," August 1, 2025
  12. ↑ CNN, "DOJ sues Texas, saying GOP-approved redistricting maps discriminate against Latinos and Blacks," December 6, 2021
  13. ↑ Associated Press, "Justice Department sues Texas over new redistricting maps," December 6, 2021
  14. ↑ Associated Press, "Texas Democrats fleeing state to block redistricting vote follows strategy that’s had mixed results," August 3, 2025
  15. ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Texas Legislature is back for a special session. Here’s what we’re watching.," July 21, 2025
  16. ↑ CBS News, "Texas House passes GOP redistricting plan after weeks-long standoff," August 20, 2025
  17. ↑ Houston Chronicle, "Texas Democrats ramp up criticism of new Texas congressional map after Senate sends it to governor," August 23, 2025
  18. ↑ LegiScan, "Texas House Bill 4," accessed August 29, 2025
  19. ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate approves congressional map that draws no new Black or Hispanic districts even as people of color fueled population growth," October 8, 2021
  20. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "SB 6," accessed October 20, 2021
  21. ↑ Texas Tribune, "Gov. Greg Abbott signs off on Texas’ new political maps, which protect GOP majorities while diluting voices of voters of color," October 25, 2021
  22. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "Bill: HB 1000," accessed June 21, 2023
  23. ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "Bill: SB 375," accessed June 21, 2023
  24. ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate votes to take up redistricting again," January 11, 2023
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