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National war For partisan advantage in next year’s Congress. election Getting intense, with republican law maker louisiana And democrat In Virginia move forward plan of That could enable a mid-decade realignment.
In Louisiana, legislators have passed a bill to delay the state’s 2026 primary elections by a month. This strategic move is intended to provide lawmakers enough time to redraw the state’s US House districts if the Supreme Court invalidates the existing boundaries.
Concurrently, Virginia lawmakers are deliberating a proposed constitutional amendment. If ultimately approved by voters, the measure would give them temporary authority to bypass the bipartisan redistricting commission and redrawing congressional districts, a response to similar initiatives seen elsewhere.
This surge in redistricting efforts began earlier this summer during the presidency donald trump Urged Republican-led states to take the unusual step of redrawing House districts to their advantage ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Redistricting typically occurs once a decade, immediately after the census. But Trump hopes redistricting now could help Republicans hold on to the House in next year’s midterm elections, where Democrats need to gain just three seats to regain control and disrupt Trump’s agenda.
Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have already revised districts at Trump’s insistence, and Republican-led Indiana is scheduled to begin a special legislative session on redistricting on Monday. So far, California is the only Democratic-led state to contest the new congressional map, going before voters in a special election ending Tuesday.
Elections delayed due to possible redistricting in Louisiana
Legislation to delay Louisiana’s congressional primaries from April 18 to May 16 passed along party lines during a special session on Wednesday and is expected to be signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.
While Louisiana’s election dates have been adjusted before due to hurricanes, this particular change is in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision in a potentially far-reaching redistricting case. At issue is Louisiana’s six-district congressional map, where lawmakers created a second majority-Black district in response to a previous court ruling that ultimately flipped a reliably Republican seat to a Democrat.
Supporters of the current map say it provides an opportunity for fair representation in a state where black residents make up one-third of the population. Opponents argue that the state’s second black-majority congressional district was unconstitutionally apportioned along race lines.
During arguments earlier this month, the six conservative Supreme Court justices appeared willing to effectively overturn the district boundaries. It is not clear when the decision will come.
Virginia Democrats eye path to more House seats
Democrats hold a 6-5 lead over Republicans in Virginia’s U.S. House delegation. A new map could allow them to extend that advantage. But that requires a multi-step process because the voter-approved constitutional amendment puts redistricting in the hands of a bipartisan commission.
After the 2020 census, that commission deadlocked, so a court enforced the districts that remained in use. The Virginia House was considering a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday that would allow the legislature to create new congressional districts in response to mid-decade redistricting in other states. But lawmakers must approve that amendment in two separate legislative sessions before it can be placed on the statewide ballot.
So far, Democrats have not revealed plans for how those new districts will be shaped.
A lawsuit brought by Republicans argues that the special session on redistricting violates the state constitution.
Maryland’s Senate refuses to redistrict.
Democratic Senate President Bill Ferguson said his chamber would not move forward with congressional redistricting, even though Democratic Governor Wes Moore and the state’s Democratic House Speaker have expressed interest in it. Maryland Democrats already hold a 7-1 lead over Republicans in the US House.
Ferguson said in a letter to Senate Democrats Tuesday night that the redistricting effort is aimed at capturing Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Harris’s seat, which could jeopardize other seats now held by Democrats and prompt more Republican-led states to retaliate with redistricting of their own.
“In short, the risk of redrawing the congressional map in Maryland is very high, leaving us with a seat that is not worth carrying,” Ferguson wrote.
He said the congressional map adopted in 2021 had been ruled unconstitutional by a judge who called it “the product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.”
Maryland passed another map in 2022, and the parties dropped their legal fight before the new map could be reviewed by a court. “Redrawing districts could reopen the ability for someone to challenge the current map and give the court a chance to void it, or worse, redraw the map,” Ferguson wrote.
Five justices to the seven-member Maryland Supreme Court were appointed by Republican former Governor Larry Hogan.
Illinois lawmakers remain reluctant to redistrict
Although national Democrats are pressuring Illinois to redraw its U.S. House districts, Democrats in the state General Assembly say they will not raise the topic during session this week. He left open the possibility of doing so later.
Democrats hold 14 of the state’s 17 U.S. House districts, which had already shifted in favor of Democrats after the 2020 census. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it provided legislative leaders last week with a proposed new map that could allow Democrats to win an additional seat.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Illinois on Monday to meet with Democratic state lawmakers about redistricting, and the state’s Democratic congressional members issued a statement Tuesday urging state lawmakers to seriously consider a new map.
But some state lawmakers are concerned that redrawing districts could dilute the representation of black voters.
“We can’t talk casually about redrawing maps,” Democratic state Rep. Kam Buckner said Wednesday. “We have to remind people that those lines are not just political boundaries. They are a visible record of invisible battles; they represent neighborhoods that after a century finally have a voice, rather than hearsay.”