It’s been a long six weeks for Democrats in the redistricting wars.
By the end of April, the party had drawn enough Democratic-leaning seats to turn the back-and-forth over new congressional maps for the midterms that President Donald Trump had started a year earlier into roughly a wash.
Then the courts acted: The U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, opening the door to Republican-led states in the South to eliminating majority-Black districts held by Democrats. A week later, the Virginia Supreme Court blocked the state from implementing a new map favoring Democrats that voters had approved in a special election.
Now, with the general election five months away, the 2026 redistricting dust is beginning to settle. In total, 10 states have implemented new congressional boundaries over the past year, with Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee most recently taking action following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.
Litigation is still ongoing in several states, but under the new maps, Republicans are in position to gain as many as 16 House seats this fall, compared with six for Democrats.
The redistricting battle, which typically occurs at the start of each decade after new census results, has reshaped the race for the narrowly divided House.
Here’s a rundown of all the states that have enacted new maps in the 2026 election cycle — and which ones could enter the fray heading into 2028.
Alabama: Up to 1 Republican seat
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday night cleared the way for Alabama to use its preferred congressional map for the midterms.
The state will now use a map originally drawn in 2023, which a federal court had previously barred it from implementing for discriminating against Black voters. The map is likely to reduce the number of Democratic-held House seats in the state from two to one.
Louisiana: Up to 1 Republican seat
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander as part of its major April redistricting ruling, Republican lawmakers moved to pass a new map eliminating one of the state’s two majority-Black districts.
The lone majority-Black district favoring Democrats in Louisiana, where a third of the population is Black, now snakes from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Tennessee: Up to 1 Republican seat
Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature passed a new congressional map carving up the state’s lone majority-Black district in Memphis just days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, pairing the liberal urban areas with rural Republican parts of the state that stretch hundreds of miles away from the city.
Under the redrawn lines, Tennessee is likely to elect an all-Republican delegation to Congress this fall.
Florida: Up to 4 Republican seats
In April, GOP legislators approved a map preferred by Gov. Ron DeSantis that creates four additional Republican-leaning seats.
It’s led to a serious legal showdown, with Republicans hoping that the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling will bolster their effort to nullify Florida’s anti-gerrymandering rules.
California: Up to 4-5 Democratic seats
Democrats’ most aggressive counterpunch to Republicans’ redistricting efforts came in California. Last November, voters approved a congressional map passed by the Democratic-led Legislature and championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that could result in upward of five more seats for the party.
Utah: Up to 1 new Democratic seat
A Utah judge gave Democrats a surprise boost last year by ruling that a Republican-drawn map violated state anti-gerrymandering rules. In its place, the judge approved a new map with a solidly Democratic seat based in Salt Lake City.
Ohio: Up to 1-2 new Republican seats
Ohio’s redistricting commission was scheduled to redraw its congressional map last year after failing to reach bipartisan consensus on it earlier in the decade. While Democrats and Republicans fought tooth and nail over the maps in other states, members of the Ohio commission cut a deal.
The approved map gives the GOP a modest boost, turning two districts — currently held by Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Greg Landsman — more Republican while making a third more safely Democratic.
North Carolina: Up to 1 new Republican seat
Republican legislators in North Carolina passed a new map targeting the 1st District, represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis. It made the seat more Republican-friendly by moving Democratic areas into a neighboring district.
Missouri: Up to 1 new Republican seat
Missouri Republicans put a new map in place that went after Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s district, splitting parts of Kansas City into two more rural and Republican-leaning districts.
Activists have submitted signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to block the map. But a state court ruled that the map could be used for this year’s election amid the ballot measure campaign.
Texas: Up to 3-5 Republican seats
Texas kick-started this cycle’s redistricting fight last summer, drawing a map at Trump’s urging that could allow Republicans to pick up five seats.
But some Democrats argue that Trump’s electoral success in 2024 won’t necessarily transfer downballot, which could limit the gains Republicans are hoping to make in the state in 2026.
What’s coming next
While the map-drawing battles are coming to a close for 2026, they will pick back up again ahead of the next election.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has called for a special legislative session later this month to take up a new congressional map for the 2028 cycle. Mississippi Republicans are also expected to tackle redistricting.
On the Democratic side, New York lawmakers are expected to pass legislation this week that would pave the way for new district lines ahead of 2028. And Democrats in Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state are considering their own efforts.
