With Republicans following Trump’s marching orders to redraw the Texas congressional map, other red states could fall in line next – while blue states say they’re looking at redrawing their own maps to counter the GOP.

Friday, July 25

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THIS WEEK

- Texas GOP rushing through redistricting scheme

- North Carolina, RNC team up to restrict student voting

- Democrats renew fight against Wisconsin gerrymandering

- Louisiana officials ask to put redistricting lawsuit on hold

TEXAS

Texas GOP rushing through redistricting scheme

Republicans are giving Texans their brief chance to speak up this week about a newly-drawn congressional map designed to eliminate Democratic seats in major cities like Houston and Dallas. But in an unsurprising twist, they haven’t actually released ([link removed] ) the map yet.

The goal is to draw and approve a new map within 30 days that meets President Donald Trump’s demand to produce five more GOP seats, pulling off a shortcut version of democracy that gives Texans far less opportunity to give input than they would have during a normal redistricting process.

Democrats across the country have a stake in what’s happening in Texas, because the state’s redistricting scheme is meant to rig the 2026 midterms and keep Republicans in power in the U.S. House. And we’re seeing leaders in blue states react swiftly. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned ([link removed] ) “two can play that game,” saying he’s looking into whether his state, whose 52 House seats are by far the most of any state, can do its own mid-decade redistricting (tldr version: It’s complicated ([link removed] ) ). And Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) signaled ([link removed] ) the Great Lakes State could redraw maps, too. In Maryland, those threats have gone one step further, with legislative leaders introducing ([link removed] ) a measure that would trigger a new redistricting effort if Texas goes through with its plan.

Texas isn’t the only red state taking a look at shoring up the national GOP’s control of the federal government. Ohio is set to redistrict ([link removed] ) its congressional map this year. And the White House is reportedly prodding ([link removed] ) Missouri Republicans to follow in Texas’ footsteps by drawing a new map to squeeze out one more GOP seat.

The existing Texas map is already an extreme partisan gerrymander that lets Republicans control 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats, a percentage that well exceeds ([link removed] ) their actual vote-share in the state.

That’s why Democrats see ([link removed] ) a possible silver lining in the scheme – the redistricting effort could backfire in Texas, making incumbent Republicans much more vulnerable to competitive challengers.

Needless to say, we’ll be watching the livestreamed ([link removed] ) public hearing at the University of Houston on Saturday. You can too. Read more about the Texas gerrymander here. ([link removed] )



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NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina, RNC team up to restrict student voting

The 2026 midterms may seem far away, but Republicans are very busy laying the groundwork now in North Carolina.

This week, state election officials banned ([link removed] ) a digital form of in-person voter ID for students and employees of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, reversing the board’s previous decision last year.

The flip makes sense if you’ve been following Democracy Docket’s coverage of North Carolina this summer. Republicans took control ([link removed] ) of the North Carolina State Board of Elections in May, installing a hyper-partisan GOP majority and replacing the panel’s executive director, a respected election administrator, with a Republican operative.

Since then, we’ve seen the board implement the GOP agenda again and again. It quickly caved to a lawsuit brought by the Trump DOJ, launching ([link removed] ) a plan that could force thousands of voters to cast a provisional ballot. And the new executive director helped write a sweeping new anti-voting bill that, among other steps, bars ([link removed] ) election officials from encouraging or promoting voter turnout.

Now, rather than defend its policy allowing UNC voters to use digital photo ID at the polls, the board’s new leadership has reached a settlement with the Republican National Committee (RNC), who had brought their own lawsuit, to make it harder to vote. Read more about the agreement here. ([link removed] )

WISCONSIN

Democrats’ new challenges to Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering

Wisconsinites have filed two lawsuits this month challenging the state’s congressional map, which currently delivers six out of eight congressional seats to Republicans, even though statewide voters have a near-even partisan split.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined ([link removed] ) late last month to take a case ([link removed] ) brought by a group of voters who argued the map is a partisan gerrymander and asked the court to order a new map for the 2026 election.

The court didn’t explain its decision to decline to take the case. But the new lawsuits are trying out different paths. Both are filing in state trial court, rather than directly asking the state Supreme Court.

And the latest group is arguing ([link removed] ) the map is a partisan gerrymander, while the lawsuit filed earlier this month is challenging ([link removed] ) the map as an anti-competitive gerrymander. Read more about Wisconsin redistricting here. ([link removed] )

LOUISIANA

State officials ask to put redistricting lawsuit on hold

In the ongoing battle ([link removed] ) over Louisiana’s 2021 state legislative district maps, state officials filed ([link removed] ) a motion this week asking to pause remedial proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court delivers its ruling on the state’s congressional map – a decision ([link removed] ) the high court has postponed ([link removed] ) until next term.

We couldn’t help but notice Louisiana officials mentioned Democracy Docket in their filing ([link removed] ) , citing our podcast episode ([link removed] ) about the Supreme Court’s decision to rehear the Callais case.

In the filing, the state argued it makes sense to pause proceedings until after the Callais ruling, which could change how the courts interpret Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

“In fact,” it went on, “some Court-watchers believe that the Supreme Court may deem Section 2 unconstitutional altogether, which would moot this Section 2 case.” (That’s us. The Court-watchers. And, to be clear, we weren’t predicting how the court would rule — just laying out the possibilities.)

While admittedly we’d prefer not to see our legal analysis used to defend their gerrymander, to Louisiana Republicans we say: Thanks for watching our YouTube channel. Read more about the Louisiana legislative redistricting challenge here. ([link removed] )

OPINION

SCOTUS May Let the GOP Gerrymander Black Southerners Out of Congress

Screenshot 2025-07-24 at 1.26.59 PM ([link removed] )

Pulling together a lot of our concerns this week – Texas redistricting, the North Carolina GOP, the future of the Voting Rights Act – Democracy Docket contributor Billy Corriher drives home the bottom line: Minority voters are the ones paying the highest price in these challenges to democracy.

Corriher warns the U.S. Supreme Court could be gearing up for a major ruling on protections against racial bias in the redistricting process.

“And if recent Supreme Court decisions are any hint, our nation’s highest court won’t be stepping in to protect voters of color,” Corriher writes. Read more here. ([link removed] )

NEW VIDEO

Does MAGA Think They’ve Gone Too Far? | ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero

As the Trump administration attacks our democracy, ACLU lawyers are on the ground fighting for our rights and freedoms. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero sits down with Marc to discuss the recent Supreme Court decisions, the importance of bringing hard cases, and the ACLU’s vital impact. Watch it on YouTube here. ([link removed] )

What We’re Doing

Democracy Docket graphic designer Madison Coviello has added the latest book recommendation to our list: “Honeybee Democracy ([link removed] ) ” written by animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley. Seeley argues we can learn a lot from bees and the way they make decisions as a group, guided by millions of years of evolution. Frankly, we’re open to all options at this point, and aren’t totally opposed to replacing some Supreme Court justices with bees.

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