Texas House Passes Redistricting Plan Creating 5 GOP-Majority Seats

The Texas House has advanced a major Republican-backed redistricting plan that could shift the balance of power in Washington, delivering the GOP up to five new U.S. House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

House Bill 4 passed on Wednesday by a vote of 88–52 after hours of heated debate. Democrats tried to derail the proposal with a flood of amendments but were unable to stop it. Earlier this year, many of them fled the state in an unsuccessful quorum break to block Republican efforts on redistricting, only to return after two weeks.

Republicans defended the new maps as both legal and necessary. Representative Todd Hunter (R), who chaired the process, said the proposal was designed to “improve Republican political performance” while still complying with federal law. He emphasized that the maps include four majority-Latino districts, which Republicans say strengthen voting rights protections.

Democrats blasted the plan as a “racist gerrymander” and accused Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump of engineering the maps to entrench GOP power. Trump, however, has openly said that redistricting in Texas could yield as many as five Republican gains in the House, which would give his party an even stronger majority in Congress.

Abbott, who called the special session that forced the vote, praised the passage of HB 4 and underscored the importance of securing representation for Texas’ booming population under Republican leadership.

Democrats in states like California and New York are already threatening to counter with aggressive gerrymanders of their own. The fight in Texas signals the start of a nationwide battle over redistricting that could define the outcome of the 2026 midterms and beyond.