How Republicans are winning the war over US congressional redistricting, state by state
May 29 (Reuters) - Several Republican-led states across the South are rushing to redraw their congressional maps ahead of November's midterm elections in a bid to help save their party's narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the latest round in a year-long nationa
May 29 (Reuters) - Several Republican-led states across the South are rushing to redraw their congressional maps ahead of November's midterm elections in a bid to help save their party's narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the latest round in a year-long national fight over redistricting.
The political war began last summer, when U.S. President Donald Trump pushed Texas Republicans to install a new map targeting five Democratic-held seats. California Democrats responded with their own map taking aim at five Republican incumbents, and other states soon followed suit.
As of this spring, the two parties had fought roughly to a draw. But a pair of court decisions - a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eviscerated protections for majority-Black districts, and a Virginia Supreme Court decision overturning a Democratic-backed map in that state - have given Republicans a decided advantage.
Republicans now appear poised to end the cycle having increased their edge in as many as 10 House seats nationwide. Democrats need to flip only three Republican-held seats from 2024 to win a majority, so every district could prove pivotal. Here is how the conflict is unfolding across the country:
Tennessee Republican lawmakers on May 7 approved a new congressional map dismantling a majority-Black district centered in Memphis, becoming the first state to take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that hollowed out the Voting Rights Act.
The district's current representative, Democrat Steve Cohen, announced he would not seek reelection following the redistricting, all but guaranteeing Republicans will win a clean sweep of all nine seats in November.
The state Senate on May 26 rejected a new map that would have taken apart the district represented by longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn. Despite pressure from the White House, several Republicans broke ranks and joined Democrats in foiling the proposal, which had easily passed the state House of Representatives.
Republicans currently control the state's other six U.S. House districts.
