Lawmakers in Texas and California were hurtling forward on Thursday with competing partisan proposals to aggressively redraw the political maps for their U.S. House districts in a rapidly evolving clash over redistricting between the nation’s two most populous states.
The battle was set off by a push from President Trump and his political aides. They have been pressing Republican-led states, including Indiana, Missouri and Ohio, to try to increase the number of congressional seats that favor Republicans in order to preserve the party’s control of Congress after the 2026 midterm election.
The push by Republicans set off a raw struggle for partisan advantage that has spread across the country as Democratic-led states, including New York and California, scrambled to respond.
Texas was the first to act, and it was the biggest prize for Mr. Trump and his allies, with potentially five Democratic seats whose districts could be redrawn to favor Republicans.
On Thursday, Republicans there who control the State Senate were poised to approve a new congressional map a day after the State House passed the map in a party-line vote on Wednesday evening.
A vote by the full Senate could take place late Thursday evening. Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he would sign the new map into law as soon as it reached his desk.
In California, Democratic lawmakers have been rushing to respond to the remapping in Texas with new congressional maps of their own that would be redrawn to flip five seats held by Republicans in favor of Democratic candidates.
But the process is far more complicated than in Texas, where the lawmakers in the State Legislature have control over drawing of the state’s political maps. In California, the state’s Constitution requires that its maps be drawn by an independent redistricting commission, and any changes must be approved by voters.
Democrats in the State Legislature introduced a package of bills this week that would redraw the state’s districts, but only if voters approve the measure in a Nov. 4 special election.
On Thursday, California lawmakers were expected to take up the bills, which require a two-thirds vote to pass. Democrats, who control more than two-thirds of the California Legislature, expected them to be approved.
But time was critical for the party. The proposed map had to pass before the end of this week because of the time needed to prepare for the special election.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who championed the redistricting effort as a necessary response to the one in Texas, has already been preparing for what is likely to be a fierce and expensive public campaign for and against the new map in California.
Republicans in the state have vowed to fight the Democrats’ plan at the ballot and in court, but they lost a round on Wednesday. The State Supreme Court rejected a request from Republican state lawmakers to block the Legislature from moving ahead with Thursday’s votes.
Laurel Rosenhall contributed reporting.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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