Texas judicial setback for Trump and Republicans: court halts map that sought to add five GOP seats

A federal court in El Paso blocked the use of Texas's new congressional map on Tuesday, a key piece in the Republican Party's strategy to expand its representation in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The decision, issued by a divided three-judge panel, orders the state to use the districts approved in 2021 while litigation continues, a setback for state officials and for President Donald Trump, who had backed the redistricting to add up to five new Republican seats.

The ruling came after a multi-day hearing in October that evaluated lines adopted by the GOP-controlled Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott. The redistricting review had generated political tensions since the summer, when Democratic lawmakers in the state House left Texas in an attempt to slow the process.

The injunction was sought by LULAC and other plaintiffs, who argued that the redrawing violated the Voting Rights Act by "diluting" the influence of Latino and African-American voters. In his majority opinion, Judge Jeffrey Brown—a Trump appointee—concluded that “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” an assertion also subscribed to by Judge David Guaderrama. Justice Jerry E. Smith, a Ronald Reagan appointee, issued a sharp dissent.

The panel majority held that state leaders initially did not want redistricting but changed their position "when the Trump administration reframed its request as a demand to redistrict congressional seats based on their racial makeup." The ruling even quotes Abbott noting that his motivation for redrawing the districts was to address Justice Department concerns related to racial criteria.

State officials immediately rejected the challenges. Abbott asserted that "the Legislature redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans’ conservative voting preferences—and for no other reason," calling the allegations of discrimination "absurd." Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the process by stating that "Texas’s map was drawn the right way for the right reasons."

The legal battle is nowhere near over. Texas appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which will have the final say on which map will be used in 2026. The electoral calendar is already ticking: the deadline for congressional candidates to register is December 8.

The ruling comes in a national context marked by intense disputes over the use of racial criteria in redistricting, a debate that also reached the High Court this year in cases coming out of Louisiana and other states.