Tracking states’ unprecedented redistricting efforts
By Amy O’Kruk, Ethan Cohen, Renée Rigdon, Fredreka Schouten, CNN
(CNN) — California voters will decide on Tuesday if they want to adopt a new congressional map — a move which Democratic leaders hope will help their party win five more seats.
The map would be the first major response from Democrats against unprecedented Republican efforts, led by President Donald Trump, to redraw congressional maps this year to help protect the party’s narrow majority in the House ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Redistricting, or the process of redrawing congressional district boundaries, typically takes place just once a decade, as states respond to updated population counts after the decennial census.
But this year, with a historically tight House of Representatives, redistricting has become a critical tactic to shaping the midterm races.
The redistricting process is different in every state. In some places, state legislators can redraw the map on their own, and all that’s needed is the political will. In other states, the redraw might require changing the constitution, a lengthier process which often involves a direct vote of the people.
Overall, Republicans have more opportunities to gain seats through new maps than Democrats do. Republicans have full control of government in more states and many Democratic states have ceded the map-drawing power to independent commissions, moves some of them are now trying to reverse.
2025 has already featured an unprecedented level of politically motivated mid-decade redistricting, but there could be even more in store. In many states, legal challenges aim to overturn existing maps. And at the Supreme Court, the justices may be poised to strike down key parts of the landmark Voting Rights Act, a decision which would open the floodgates to even more aggressive maps.
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—CNN’s Molly English, Arit John and Dianne Gallagher contributed to this report. Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier/CNN/@SenatorBerger via X/California and Missouri state legislatures
