PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Federal judges have halted Texas’s redistricting plans, arguing they are racist in nature.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Three federal judges, civil rights groups, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott (R), and other Texan officials.

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📍WHEN & WHERE: The ruling was made on November 18.

🎯IMPACT: The ruling could counter GOP attempts to redistrict in other Republican-controlled states, benefitting Democrats in the upcoming Midterms.

A three-judge federal panel has barred Texas from implementing its newly approved congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, finding supposedly compelling evidence that the redrawn districts amount to racial gerrymandering.

In their decision, the judges declared that while political motives played a role in crafting the 2025 map, “it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.” The court concluded that the map violates both the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.

The lawsuit had been brought by civil rights groups representing black and Hispanic voters, who argued the mapping effort diluted minority voting power. They sought to prevent the Lone Star State from using its new map, and the judges agreed, granting their request and signaling a strong likelihood of success if the case were to continue.

If allowed to proceed, the map would have likely awarded Republicans five additional U.S. House seats by dismantling districts where Democrat-leaning minority populations currently outweigh Republican-leaning non-Hispanic whites. Specifically, the number of majority-minority districts would have dropped from 16 to 14.

The ruling is being viewed as a significant setback for President Donald J. Trump, who had urged GOP-led states to redraw maps that unfairly favor Democrats to secure more Republican seats.

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