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New congressional maps have passed through the legislatures of both California and Texas. Texas' new map is set to add at least five seats to the GOP caucus in Washington, which could mean a major shift in the balance of power.
The question is, with California already responding with its own new maps and other states set to do the same, will the GOP actually manage to come out on top of this so-called "redistricting war" that seems to be kicking off?
Political consultant Luke Macias thinks the answer is yes, and the reason is because of how gerrymandered blue states already are. He explained, "Republicans have a lot of low-hanging fruit, and Democrats do not have any low-hanging fruit left. They have a vast advantage that we're now starting to offset."
Despite this, Macias warned that Democratic states are likely to follow California's lead and gerrymander their states further. He said, "They are going to test how much Donald Trump can force red states to be real red states, over the next cycle and going into 2028."
Another major question voters have is, with leftists already preparing to file lawsuits against the new maps, will they survive a lawsuit, let alone take effect by the time November 2026 rolls around? Macias says the answer to that is another resounding yes.
According to him, when it comes to drawing congressional maps, "Federal courts have ultimately upheld that partisan preference is completely legal, appropriate, and fair. Texas abided by that ruling and by the letter of the law and should be in a fine position to keep these maps going into the midterms."