President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Republicans are “entitled to five more seats” in Texas, where a redistricting battle is playing out among state lawmakers.
But the Lone Star State’s political showdown has national implications, with control of the U.S. House potentially at stake.
Republicans started the 119th Congress with the smallest House majority in nearly 100 years. Currently, the party has a 219-212 majority with four vacancies. When those vacancies are filled, Democrats would need to only net three seats next November to win back the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican in any vote where all members are present. The slim margin created some headaches for Johnson in delivering Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending bill, rewriting cryptocurrency rules and more.
In a bid to defend the fragile majority, or even expand it, Trump’s political operation approached Texas Republicans in June about redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Midterm elections historically have been unkind to the president’s party, though Johnson said last week when Texas Republicans introduced the new maps that the GOP would “defy history” and “grow the majority in the House” in next year’s races.
The new map could net Republicans between three and five seats if enacted, analysts previously told ABC News. The proposed changes would impact districts in Austin, Dallas and Houston — areas that have typically voted blue.
The Texas redistricting efforts, which are rarely done mid-decade between the census, has prompted major pushback from Democrats.
Democratic lawmakers fled the state in protest, denying Republicans the necessary quorum to vote on enacting the new map. In response, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest the Democrats and bring them back to Austin.
President Trump on Tuesday defended the move in a phone interview with CNBC.
“We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas, I got the highest vote in the history of Texas as you probably know. And we are entitled to five more seats,” Trump said.
Democratic leaders have pledged to try to counter the Texas Republican effort with new maps of their own.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday, at a news conference alongside several Texas House Democrats in Albany, said she will try to gerrymander her state’s map — though noted it was unlikely to be done before the 2026 midterms.
“We’re already working on a legislative process, reviewing our legal strategies, and we’ll do everything in our power to stop this brazen assault,” Hochul said. “The gloves are off, and I say ‘Bring it on.’”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, too, said if Texas moved forward with the new map then they would respond by putting their own redistricting plan before voters this November.
Both states currently use independent commissions to draw their maps following constitutional amendments.
“Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California, and they will pay that price,” Newsom said on Monday.
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