Texas panel advances redrawn congressional map that could take 5 Democratic seats

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A Texas House panel on Saturday advanced a new congressional map as state Republicans power ahead with a strategy backed by President Donald Trump to help the GOP maintain the US House majority in the 2026 midterms.

The map, unveiled earlier this week, attempts to make five Democratic congressional seats more favorable to Republicans. Texas Republicans argue the move is necessary over concerns that the current maps are unconstitutional and racially gerrymandered. Democrats have said it would suppress the votes of people of color.

The Texas House redistricting committee voted along party lines Saturday to approve the map, setting up a full House vote.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Saturday the party will file a lawsuit if the map passes, adding that state Republicans are “silencing voters on behalf of Donald Trump.”

“Democrats must fight this Trump power grab through any means necessary, and blue states across the country should use this as a signal flare to start carving up their own states and make these authoritarian wannabe Republican lawmakers regret ever opening up this redistricting discussion in the first place,” Scudder said in a statement.

Democratic governors in states like California have already warned they will attempt the same tactics to help their party win more seats, in what one US House Democrat described to CNN as a “redistricting arms race.”

US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his political team are exploring similar plans in California, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and Washington state in hopes of flipping at least a handful of Republican seats next November. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win the House in the midterms.

The new Texas map features 30 districts that Trump would have won in 2024 if the map was in place, up from 27 under the current district lines. In total, there are five more seats that Trump won by more than 10 percentage points, according to data from the Texas Legislative Council.

The proposed map eliminates the Austin-area seat of Rep. Greg Casar, who would likely be forced into a primary with another liberal Democrat, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, in the Austin area.

Multiple people close to Doggett have told CNN they do not expect him to bow out quietly and instead foresee the two battling it out in a primary. One of those people close to the senior House Democrat pointed out that he has $6.2 million cash on hand.

In a statement this week, Doggett did not address the question of his future and said his “sole focus” is defeating the new GOP map.

Casar, for his part, vowed in a statement to “fight back with everything we’ve got,” calling for voters to “mobilize against this illegal map.”

Republicans also propose merging the Houston-area seat of Rep. Al Green with a vacant seat held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in office earlier this year. Green’s district was altered more than any other sitting member in the plan. Democrats expect Green to run in the new seat, though he may have to battle it out with some of the Democrats who were already running for the Turner seat.

The map would also make two southern Texas seats — held by Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez — more Republican-leaning. But multiple Democrats view the seats as still in reach for the two centrist members who typically performed ahead of statewide or national Democrats.

Trump has not yet weighed in on the proposed Texas map.

CNN’s Sarah Ferris and Ethan Cohen contributed to this report.

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