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State of Election Administration Legislation 2025 Year-End Report: Topics of note, Redistricting
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December 16, 2025
By Ballotpedia staff
Topics of note
Redistricting
Legislators in 16 states enacted 30 bills and resolutions that made changes to the redistricting process, including referring redistricting amendments to voters, initiating new legislative redistricting, or passing new maps due to a court order or mid-decade redistricting effort. Six states were set to use new congressional maps for 2026 midterm elections. This included five states where legislators enacted new maps or referred them for voter approval, and four that had done so voluntarily.
In 2025, only one state, Ohio, was required to approve new congressional maps due to ongoing litigation, something the state’s redistricting commission did in October. But while every state redrew its district lines after the 2020 census, some states revisited redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections voluntarily.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed HB 4 on Aug. 29, creating new congressional district boundaries and making Texas the first state to redraw its maps in 2025. The new lines were challenged in court, but a December ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the districts to be used for the 2026 elections.
The new maps could create up to five additional Republican districts during the 2026 election cycle. Legislators adopted the revised districts in a second special session after the first special session was unable to commence because Democratic legislators left the state to prevent a quorum in the Texas House.
Missouri became the second state to voluntarily redraw its districts when Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed HB 1 into law on Sept. 29. The new lines are likely to net an additional Republican district in the Kansas City area.
Legislators in North Carolina enacted S 249 on Oct. 22, making them the third state to pass revised districts. The state Senate approved the map by a 26-20 vote on Oct. 21, 2025, and the state House followed on Oct. 22 with a 66-48 vote. Redistricting bills in the state do not require gubernatorial approval and are not subject to a veto. The new districts shift District 1—which Rep. Donald Davis (D) currently represents—toward Republicans.
California became the first state with a Democratic trifecta to enact new maps when voters approved Proposition 50 64.4%-35.6% on Nov. 4. That measure enacted the congressional maps contained in AB 604, which aim to shift five districts towards Democrats. The Legislature voted 57-20 in the state Assembly and 30-8 in the state Senate in favor of ACA 8, which placed the measure on the ballot before voters in a special election.
In Utah, legislators approved SB 1012, which approved submitting a congressional map to Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson as required as part of litigation challenging maps the Legislature approved in 2021. Gibson rejected the map in favor of a different set of districts that critics of the 2021 lines proposed. Republican legislators appealed the decision to the Utah Supreme Court, with the litigation ongoing as of Dec. 10.
Read more on redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections here.
One state, Mississippi, enacted new state legislative maps in 2025 due to litigation. JR 1 made changes to five state house districts and JR 2 made changes to 10 state Senate districts. A U.S. district court judge approved the new lines for most of the districts but rejected the proposed Senate districts near DeSoto County. The State Board of Election Commissioners submitted new lines for that area, which were ultimately approved.
New laws in 11 states also change the procedures that will be used in the future for federal, state, or local redistricting. Those include:
- Louisiana’s HB 482, which requires local governing bodies to submit proposed local redistricting or reapportionment plans to the parish clerk of court and registrar of voters for review before adoption.
- Montana’s HB 711, which prohibits the state supreme court from appointing a fifth commissioner to the Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission if that individual has made a campaign contribution in the past 10 years to a major party candidate for state or federal office.
- Nevada’s AB 477, which mandates the Department of Corrections compile and share certain data related to the last known residence of inmates for purposes of reapportionment. It also requires the State Demographer to classify inmates who do not have a last known residence to be classified as not belonging to a specific block, block group, census tract or other geographical unit.
- Utah’s SB 1011, which establishes that congressional districts meeting certain criteria do not purposefully favor or disfavor a political party without clear and convincing evidence proving otherwise.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
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About the authors
Joe Greaney and Andrew Bahl are staff writers on Ballotpedia's Law Team.
Law Team Managing Editor Janie Valentine reviewed the report and provided feedback, as did Senior Editor Norm Leahy, and Associate Director of Features Cory Eucalitto.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- About Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- Voting laws in the United States
- Election Policy
