(Reuters) -Federal judges on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a new congressional map intended to flip several Democratic-held U.S. House of Representatives seats to Republican control in next year’s midterm elections.
The Texas map approved by the state legislature launched a nationwide redistricting battle after President Donald Trump’s demand that Republican-led states redraw their congressional maps to help his party retain control of Congress in the 2026 elections.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the new Republican-backed map into law on August 29, aimed at flipping as many as five Democratic-held seats. More than 50 Democratic lawmakers had fled the state weeks earlier, temporarily preventing a vote on the map. The missing lawmakers returned after California Democrats announced a retaliatory redistricting effort.Republicans already control 25 of Texas’ 38 seats under a Republican-drawn map from 2021.
California reacted by initiating its own redistricting effort targeting five Republican-held districts there. California voters overwhelmingly approved a new map in the November elections. Other states, both Republican and Democratic, have followed suit with redistricting plans or threatened to do so.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Andrew Hay. Editing by Donna Bryson and Will Dunham)
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